An elevated northwest swell generated high surf at local beaches.
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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.
An elevated northwest swell generated high surf at local beaches.
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 Feb 25, 2:30 AM PST, 3 hours 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA 230 AM PST THU FEB 25 2016 .SYNOPSIS... FAIR WEATHER WILL CONTINUE THIS COMING WEEK. IT WILL BE SLIGHTLY COOLER THIS WEEKEND WITH SOME COASTAL CLOUDS RETURNING. A WARMING TREND IS EXPECTED NEXT WEEK WITH SOME OFFSHORE FLOW. && .DISCUSSION...FOR EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA INCLUDING ORANGE... SAN DIEGO...WESTERN RIVERSIDE AND SOUTHWESTERN SAN BERNARDINO COUNTIES... FAIR WEATHER CONTINUES THIS MORNING WITH NO CLOUDS IN SIGHT. OFFSHORE WINDS ARE WELL-BEHAVED...ONLY IN THE FOOTHILLS WITH TOP GUSTS OF ONLY 25 MPH OR SO. FOG IS NOT A CONCERN THIS MORNING...BUT IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP IN PATCHY FASHION LATE TONIGHT ALONG THE COAST. IT COULD BE DENSE UPON INITIAL FORMATION. FRIDAY WE GO FIRMLY ONSHORE AS A SHORTWAVE TROUGH MOVES THROUGH NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. THIS WILL HELP A MORE UNIFORM MARINE LAYER DEVELOP AND DEEPEN. AND THAT WILL MEAN MORE COASTAL CLOUDS HEADING INTO SOME OF THE WESTERN VALLEYS BY SATURDAY MORNING WITH SIMILAR COVERAGE SUNDAY MORNING. IT WILL CONTINUE WARM TODAY. SOME COOLING WILL BEGIN NEAR THE COAST ON FRIDAY...BUT INLAND AREAS WILL STAY WARM. ALL AREAS WILL BE A LITTLE COOLER THIS WEEKEND...BUT MAX TEMPS WILL CONTINUE ABOVE AVERAGE. ON MONDAY ANOTHER WEAK SHORTWAVE MOVES THROUGH NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. THIS WILL BRING COOLER AIR AND HIGHER SURFACE PRESSURE INTO THE GREAT BASIN...SETTING US UP FOR MORE OFFSHORE FLOW AROUND HERE MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. SOME OFFSHORE WINDS MAINLY IN THE FOOTHILLS WILL RESULT. AT THE SAME TIME A HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE AMPLIFIES OVER THE WEST AND THAT WILL BRING A MODEST WARMING TREND TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. WHERE IS EL NINO? HE IS STILL OUT THERE BUT THE NEXT COUPLE WEEKS LOOK DRY. THERE ARE SOME HINTS THAT THE JET STREAM COULD MAKE A SHIFT THAT UNDERCUTS OUR CURRENT PERSISTENT RIDGE...ALLOWING STORM SYSTEMS ACCESS TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA DURING THE SECOND OR THIRD WEEK OF MARCH. A FEW FACTORS NEED TO FALL INTO PLACE SO THERE ARE NO GUARANTEES...BUT THERE IS SOME REASON TO HOPE FOR A PATTERN CHANGE FOR THE WETTER BEFORE OUR WET SEASON EXPIRES. && .AVIATION... 251030Z...MAINLY CLEAR WITH VFR CONDITIONS LIKELY TODAY. LOW CLOUDS AND FOG MAY RETURN TO COASTAL SITES LATE TONIGHT WITH CIGS BELOW 1000 FT MSL AND PATCHES OF FOG WITH VSBY 1SM OR LESS. OTHERWISE...SCT CLOUDS ABV 20000 FT WITH UNRESTRICTED VSBY THROUGH FRIDAY. && .MARINE... 230 AM...DO NOT EXPECT ANY FOG DEVELOPMENT THIS MORNING OVER THE COASTAL WATERS. SOME PATCHY FOG WITH VSBY AS LOW AS 1 SM WILL BE POSSIBLE BEGINNING LATE THIS AFTERNOON...AND POSSIBLY EXPANDING OVERNIGHT OVER THE COASTAL WATERS. A LONG-PERIOD WEST-NORTHWEST SWELL WILL GENERATE COMBINED SEAS OF 8-11 FT TODAY...MAINLY OVER THE OUTER WATERS. && .BEACHES... 230 AM...THE SAN CLEMENTE BASIN BUOY HAS BEEN REPORTING A 10-FOOT SWELL WITH A 17-SECOND PERIOD FOR THE PAST SEVERAL HOURS. SURF SHOULD PICK UP THIS MORNING AT SOCAL BEACHES...WITH OCCASIONAL SETS POSSIBLY AS HIGH AS 12 FEET IN SOUTHERN SAN DIEGO COUNTY AND NORTHERN ORANGE COUNTY. STRONG RIP CURRENTS WILL ALSO BE LIKELY. SWELL AND SURF WILL GRADUALLY SUBSIDE BY LATE THIS EVENING. ANOTHER LARGE LONG-PERIOD WEST-NORTHWEST SWELL OF A SIMILAR HEIGHT AND PERIOD...WILL LIKELY CREATE MORE LARGE SURF AND STRONG RIP CURRENTS SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. && .FIRE WEATHER... EASTERLY BREEZES WILL CONTINUE THIS MORNING IN PARTS OF THE FOOTHILLS...THEN GRADUALLY WEAKEN THIS AFTERNOON. IT WILL REMAIN QUITE DRY WITH MINIMUM RH VALUES 10-15 PERCENT THIS AFTERNOON. FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS WILL REMAIN ELEVATED TODAY PARTICULARLY IN THE FOOTHILLS AND BELOW THE PASSES. BETTER RH RECOVERY IS EXPECTED INLAND TONIGHT. ONSHORE FLOW AND A SHALLOW MARINE LAYER WILL DEVELOP FRIDAY BRINGING HIGHER HUMIDITY THROUGH THE WEEKEND. && .SGX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... CA...HIGH SURF ADVISORY UNTIL 10 PM FOR ORANGE COUNTY COASTAL AREAS-SAN DIEGO COUNTY COASTAL AREAS. PZ...NONE. && PUBLIC/FIRE WEATHER... MM AVIATION/MARINE/BEACHES...JMB
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
7 high surf. Local standard time, as filed.
Surfline reported 8 to 12 ft surf at Blacks Beach.
Surfline reported 6 to 8 ft surf at Imperial Beach.
Surfline reported 6 to 10 ft surf at Ocean Beach.
Mission Beach Lifeguards reported 8 ft surf.
San Clemente Lifeguards reported 5 to 7 ft surf.
Solana Beach Lifeguards reported 4 to 7 ft surf.
Surfline reported 5 to 8 ft surf at Huntington Beach.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in California, February 2016
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: 618822, 618823, 618824, 618819, 618817, 618821, 618818.