A series of large, long-period northwest swells, generated by storms moving over the north-central Pacific brought high surf and strong rip currents to portions of the Orange and San Diego County coast during the week of January 20th. This event covers the third and largest of the swells to move through the coastal waters on the 24-26th.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS SGX wrote it up.
A series of large, long-period northwest swells, generated by storms moving over the north-central Pacific brought high surf and strong rip currents to portions of the Orange and San Diego County coast during the week of January 20th. This event covers the third and largest of the swells to move through the coastal waters on the 24-26th. Areas north of Newport Beach in Orange County and south of Del Mar in San Diego County saw widespread.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS San Diego, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 23, 9:55 PM PST, 2 hours 5 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA 955 PM PST THU JAN 23 2014 .SYNOPSIS... AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL SPREAD MID AND HIGH LEVEL CLOUDS ACROSS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TONIGHT AND FRIDAY. INCREASING LOW LEVEL OFFSHORE FLOW WILL BRING GUSTY EAST WINDS IN THE MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS THROUGH FRIDAY. THE OFFSHORE FLOW WEAKENS SATURDAY...BUT THE UPPER RIDGE WILL STRENGTHEN AGAIN FOR MORE WARM...DRY WEATHER OVER THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. && .DISCUSSION...FOR EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA INCLUDING ORANGE... SAN DIEGO...WESTERN RIVERSIDE AND SOUTHWESTERN SAN BERNARDINO COUNTIES... INFRARED SATELLITE LOOP SHOWS AN EXPANDING AREA OF MID AND HIGH CLOUDS STREAMING INTO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA THIS EVENING. THESE CLOUDS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH A 500 MB SHORTWAVE OFF THE BAJA COAST THAT IS FORECAST TO LIFT NORTH AND TRACK ACROSS SO-CAL FRIDAY. THESE HIGH CLOUDS WILL LIMIT THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MARINE LAYER...AND LOW CLOUDS AND FOG WILL BE MUCH LESS WIDESPREAD THAN LAST NIGHT. THIS UPPER LEVEL SHORTWAVE WILL BRING ELEVATED MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY INTO SOCAL FRIDAY AFTERNOON. THE MOIST LAYER LOWERS TO AROUND 10000 FEET LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND FRIDAY NIGHT. THE MODELS SHOW HIGHER HUMIDITIES AT THE HIGHER MOUNTAIN ELEVATIONS...ESPECIALLY FRIDAY NIGHT. AT THE LOWER LEVELS...A STRONG SURFACE HIGH BUILDING OVER UTAH WILL BRING INCREASING OFFSHORE PRESSURE GRADIENTS AND GUSTY OFFSHORE WINDS TO THE MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS TONIGHT AND FRIDAY. WINDS ARE ALREADY GUSTING TO BETWEEN 40-45 MPH IN SOME OF THE EAST-WEST PASSES THIS EVENING. A WIND ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT THROUGH FRIDAY FOR SOME OF THE MTN/VALLEY LOCATIONS WHERE WIND GUSTS TO 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED. THE SURFACE PRESSURE GRADIENTS WEAKEN SATURDAY FOR LIGHTER OFFSHORE FLOW. THE DOMINATE WEST COAST RIDGE REMAINS IN PLACE SO TEMPS WILL CONTINUE ABOVE AVERAGE SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. WARMEST DAYS WILL BE TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY WHEN THE RIDGE IS STRONGEST. EXTENDED MODELS SHOWING BETTER RUN TO RUN CONSISTENCY WITH STRONGER WESTERLIES BREAKING DOWN THE WEST COAST RIDGE LATE NEXT WEEK FOR COOLER WEATHER AND A DEEPER MARINE LAYER NEXT WEEKEND. && .AVIATION... 240320Z...BKN-OVC CIGS FL200-250...LOWERING TO FL100-150 ON FRIDAY ALL AREAS AND PERSISTING AFT 00Z SAT. COAST/WESTERN VALLEYS...BKN STRATUS LAYER BETWEEN 800 AND 1200 FT DEVELOPING AFT 06Z POSSIBLY LOWERING AFT 10Z WITH LOCAL CIGS OF 500 FT IN SOME AREAS. AREAS OF 3-5SM VIS IN BR/HZ DEVELOPING AFT 08Z THROUGH 13Z. ANY LOWER VIS IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN ISOLATED. LOWER STRATUS LAYER SHOULD CLEAR 15Z-18Z ON SAT LEAVING VFR CONDITIONS. DESERTS/MTNS...UNRESTRICTED VIS THROUGH FRI. THROUGH 21Z FRI...AREAS OF E TO NE WIND GUSTS OF 25-35 KT ALONG THE COASTAL FOOTHILLS... THROUGH PASSES/CANYONS AND ALONG THE COASTAL FOOTHILLS AT TIMES WILL PRODUCE MOD UDDFS/LLWS OVER AND W OF THE MTNS. && .MARINE... A LONG PERIOD NW SWELL WILL BUILD INTO THE COASTAL WATERS OVERNIGHT THROUGH FRI. HIGH SURF AND STRONG RIP CURRENTS WILL DEVELOP AND CONTINUE THROUGH LATE SAT. THE SWELL WILL PEAK AT 8-9 FT/19-20 SECONDS AT THE SAN CLEMENTE BASIN BUOY FRI EVENING. THE LARGE SWELL AND LONG PERIOD SHOULD BRING SURF OF 7-10 FEET WITH SETS TO 12 FEET FRI THROUGH SAT NIGHT...WITH THE HIGHEST SURF OCCURRING NORTH OF NEWPORT BEACH IN ORANGE COUNTY...AND SOUTH OF DEL MAR IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY. A HIGH SURF ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR THAT TIME PERIOD. VERY STRONG RIP CURRENTS AND SIGNIFICANT BEACH EROSION ARE ALSO LIKELY. THIS SWELL WILL LOWER ON SUNDAY...BUT MORE 6-8 FOOT NORTHWEST SWELLS WILL OCCUR MOST OF NEXT WEEK...RESULTING IN CONTINUED ELEVATED SURF AND STRONG RIP CURRENTS. && .FIRE WEATHER... THE MARINE LAYER DEEPENED AND SURGED INTO THE SAN DIEGO VALLEYS WHERE HUMIDITIES ARE HIGHER THAN 24 HOURS AGO. HUMIDITIES REMAIN VERY LOW IN THE MTNS/FOOTHILLS. ELEVATIONS BELOW 8000 FEET WILL REMAIN VERY DRY THROUGH FRIDAY AS THE NEXT ROUND OF DRY OFFSHORE FLOW BRINGS GUSTY SANTA ANA WINDS. AREAS AFFECTED INCLUDE HIGHLAND SPRINGS NEAR THE SAN GORGONIO PASS...AND THE PASSES OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY. STRONGEST WINDS WILL BLOW THROUGH/BELOW EAST-WEST PASSES AND CANYONS WITH 15-30 MPH WINDS GUSTING TO 40-50 MPH. A RED FLAG WARNING IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM FRIDAY. WINDS WILL DIMINISH LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON/EVENING. THERE MAY BE SOME INCREASE IN MOUNTAIN HUMIDITIES LATE FRIDAY AND FRIDAY NIGHT AS HIGH LEVEL MOISTURE AND CLOUDS STREAM INTO THE AREA FROM THE SOUTHWEST. AT THE LOW LEVELS...WEAK OFFSHORE FLOW AND VERY DRY CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE INTO SATURDAY. && .SGX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... HIGH SURF ADVISORY FROM 2 AM FRIDAY TO 2 AM SUNDAY FOR THE ORANGE/SAN DIEGO COUNTY COASTAL AREAS. RED FLAG WARNING THROUGH FRIDAY EVENING FOR THE RIVERSIDE COUNTY MOUNTAINS-INCLUDING THE SAN JACINTO RANGER DISTRICT OF THE SAN BERNARDINO NATIONAL FOREST...SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTY VALLEYS-THE INLAND EMPIRE...SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY MOUNTAINS-INCLUDING THE MOUNTAIN TOP AND FRONT COUNTRY RANGER DISTRICTS OF THE SAN BERNARDINO NATIONAL FOREST...SAN DIEGO COUNTY INLAND VALLEYS...SAN DIEGO COUNTY MOUNTAINS-INCLUDING THE PALOMAR AND DESCANSO RANGER DISTRICTS OF THE CLEVELAND NATIONAL FOREST...SANTA ANA MOUNTAINS-INCLUDING THE TRABUCO RANGER DISTRICT OF THE CLEVELAND NATIONAL FOREST. WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 2 PM FRIDAY FOR INLAND EMPIRE...RIVERSIDE COUNTY MOUNTAINS...SAN DIEGO COUNTY VALLEYS...SAN DIEGO COUNTY MOUNTAINS AND SANTA ANA MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS. && PUBLIC/FIRE...MOEDE AVIATION/MARINE...JAD
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 high surf. Local standard time, as filed.
The Huntington Beach lifeguards and Surfline reported consistent 6 to 8 foot surf at Huntington, Seal and Bolsa Chica State Beaches during the three-day period, with occasional sets to 10 feet, mainly on the 26th.
Surfline reported 8 to 12 foot surf at Blacks and Ocean Beaches on the 24th. Mission Beach lifeguards reported 8 to 10 foot surf that day.|Surfline reported 4 to 7 foot surf at Cardiff, Oceanside and Imperial Beaches, and 6 to 10 foot surf at Blacks and Ocean Beaches on the 25th. |Surfline reported 4 to 8 foot surf at Blacks, Ocean and Imperial Beaches on the 26th. Oceanside lifeguards reported 5 to 8 foot surf that day.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyWarnings in California, January 2014
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 496489, 496491.