High Surf in Oregon, January 19, 2016

Name: High Surf in Oregon, January 19, 2016
Start: 2016-01-19T08:00
End: 2016-01-19T09:00
Location: Oregon

January 19, 2016 · NWS MFR · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 feet Eagle III commercial crab fishing vessel collided with the Coos Bay north jetty and capsized around 830 pm on 1/19/2016. The vessel had left Charleston, OR but was registered in Port Orford, OR.

Where it happened

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.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 3
Injuries: 1
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS MFR wrote it up.

The 40.1 feet Eagle III commercial crab fishing vessel collided with the Coos Bay north jetty and capsized around 830 pm on 1/19/2016. The vessel had left Charleston, OR but was registered in Port Orford, OR. There were 4 people on board. The captain survived by making it to shore. One male body was found on the Coos Bay north jetty along with boat debris. Two people are still missing and assumed deceased. The debris has become a hazard in the Coos Bay bar.

What forecasters said that day

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 Medford, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 19, 1:05 AM PST, 6 hours 55 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 19, 1:05 AM PST, 6 hours 55 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEDFORD OR
105 AM PST TUE JAN 19 2016

.DISCUSSION...19/00Z NAM/GFS IN.

THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERIC PATTERN SHOWS A WAVE NUMBER OF FOUR
AROUND THE GLOBE WITH A LOW INDEX...MEANING THAT THERE IS A LOT OF
LONGITUDINAL FLOW. OVERALL...A PROGRESSIVE STORMY PATTERN. THAT'S
THE WAY IT'S GOING TO BE OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST FOR THE REST
OF THIS WEEK.

A LONG WAVE TROUGH OFFSHORE WILL EJECT SEVERAL SHORT WAVES THAT
WILL PASS OVER THE FORECAST AREA DURING THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. ONE
WAVE PASSED JUST TO THE NORTH OF THE AREA MONDAY EVENING. THE NEXT
ONE WILL TAKE A MORE SOUTHERLY TRACK AND WILL MOVE THROUGH LATER
THIS MORNING. THE NEXT ONE WILL MOVE ONSHORE TUESDAY AFTERNOON.

EACH OF THESE WAVES WILL BRING A ROUND OF HEAVIER PRECIPITATION
AND WINDS TO THE AREA...ESPECIALLY WHEN A SURFACE COLD FRONT MOVES
THROUGH LATE TUESDAY MORNING INTO TUESDAY AFTERNOON. THE WINDS
WILL BE STRONGEST OVER THE SHASTA VALLEY AND EAST OF THE CASCADES...
AND HIGH WIND WARNINGS AND ADVISORIES ARE IN EFFECT FOR THOSE
AREAS...SEE THE LATEST PDXNPWMFR FOR DETAILS.

PRECIPITATION WILL BE SIGNIFICANT BUT NOT EXTREME...WITH THE
HIGHEST AMOUNTS IN THE USUAL AREAS VULNERABLE TO SOUTHWEST
FLOW...LIKE THE COAST RANGE IN CURRY COUNTY EXTENDED SOUTH INTO
WESTERN SISKIYOU COUNTY. A FLOOD WARNING FOR THE COQUILLE RIVER AT
COQUILLE WILL REMAIN IN EFFECT...BUT NO FLOODING OF MAIN STEM
RIVERS IS EXPECTED ELSEWHERE.

MODELS SHOW SOME INSTABILITY MOVING INTO THE AREA TUESDAY...SO
ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE WEST OF THE CASCADES LATE
TUESDAY MORNING INTO TUESDAY AFTERNOON. THESE MAY TAP INTO SOME
STRONGER WINDS ALOFT...BRINGING GUSTY WINDS TO THE SURFACE AND
POSSIBLY SOME SMALL HAIL.

SNOW LEVELS WILL BE AROUND 5000 FEET...LOWERING TO 4000 FEET
TUESDAY EVENING. AMOUNTS WILL BE SIGNIFICANT ABOVE 5000
FEET...6 TO 12 INCHES WITH AROUND A FOOT OF SNOW FORECASTED FOR
THE CRATER LAKE AREA. SEE THE LATEST PDXWSWMFR FOR DETAILS.

THE LAST WAVE WILL CLEAR TO THE EAST EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING...AND
A SHORT WAVE RIDGE WILL BUILD INTO THE AREA. THIS WILL MAKE FOR A
SHORT BREAK IN THE ACTION WEDNESDAY INTO WEDNESDAY EVENING. THE
RIDGE WILL BREAK TO THE EAST OF THE AREA WEDNESDAY NIGHT. THE LONG
WAVE TROUGH WILL THEN EDGE CLOSER TO THE COAST...WEAKENING AS IT
DOES SO.

THE NEXT SHORT WAVE WILL MOVE ONSHORE THURSDAY EVENING...BUT
LIGHT PRECIPITATION AHEAD OF IT WILL DEVELOP WEDNESDAY NIGHT ALONG
THE COAST AND IN THE COAST RANGE. THE CASCADES MAY SEE SOME LIGHT
PRECIPITATION ON THURSDAY. HEAVIER PRECIPITATION WILL DEVELOP
THURSDAY EVENING WHEN THE FIRST SHORT WAVE ARRIVES. SNOW LEVELS
WILL BE HIGHER..AROUND 7000 FEET. MORE SHORT WAVES WILL FOLLOW
FRIDAY INTO SATURDAY...WHEN A LONG WAVE RIDGE WILL BUILD INTO THE
AREA.

LONG TERM DISCUSSION FROM THE MONDAY AFTERNOON AFD...FRIDAY
THROUGH MONDAY. A COLD FRONT WILL STALL OUT OVER OUR AREA EARLY
FRIDAY, AND THEN A WAVE OF LOW PRESSURE WILL RIDE ALONG THE FRONT
THROUGH THE DAY. THERE ARE SOME DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MODELS AS TO
THE TIMING OF THE WAVE ALONG THE FRONT, BUT ALL SHOW THIS BASIC
SCENARIO. THUS, FRIDAY LOOKS QUITE WET OVER MUCH OF OUR AREA AND
POTENTIAL BREEZY DEPENDING ON THE STRENGTH AND TRACK OF THE
SURFACE LOW. PRECIPITATION LIKELY LINGERS OVER THE REGION INTO
SATURDAY, BUT A RIDGE BEGINS TO BUILD ALONG THE PACNW COAST SUNDAY
WHICH MAY PROVIDE US WITH A DRY END TO THE WEEKEND. THE RIDGE AXIS
MOVES INLAND MONDAY, WHICH PROBABLY KEEPS US DRY EAST OF THE
CASCADES, BUT RAIN MAY START TO MOVE INTO THE COAST AND WEST SIDE.
CONFIDENCE WITH THIS RIDGE AND ITS DEMISE IS NOT HIGH, BUT WE DID
LOWER POPS FOR MOST AREAS SUNDAY AND MONDAY. -WRIGHT

&&

.AVIATION...FOR THE 19/06Z TAF CYCLE...A POTENT SURFACE LOW IS
DEVELOPING OFFSHORE. THIS STORM WILL MOVE ONSHORE TUESDAY MORNING
THEN PUSH INLAND EARLY TUESDAY AFTERNOON WITH A COLD FRONT SWEEPING
EAST OF THE CASCADES AND THROUGH NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. CIGS WILL
GRADUALLY LOWER TONIGHT INTO TUESDAY WITH MVFR DEVELOPING IN MANY
AREAS ALONG WITH TERRAIN OBSCURATIONS AND PERIODS OF RAIN.
FREEZING LEVELS WILL BE AROUND 5000 TO 6000 FEET. GUSTY WINDS WILL
ACCOMPANY THE FRONTAL PASSAGE TUESDAY. PRE- FRONTAL WINDS WILL BE
SOUTHERLY, BUT SHIFT TO WEST OR SOUTHWEST POST-FRONT...LIKELY
CAUSING SOME BUMPY RIDES DUE TO TURBULENCE ON ARRIVALS AND
DEPARTURES. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE LATER TUESDAY
MORNING INTO TUESDAY AFTERNOON. SPILDE

&&

.MARINE...UPDATED 830 PM PST MONDAY 18 JAN 2016...WINDS AND SEAS
WILL LOWER BRIEFLY THIS EVENING AS A FRONT HEADS INLAND. A STRONG
SURFACE LOW WILL MOVE EAST-NORTHEASTWARD THROUGH THE AREA LATE
TONIGHT THEN ONSHORE TUESDAY MORNING BRINGING GALES AS WELL AS VERY
STEEP WIND DRIVEN SEAS. ANOTHER STRONG FRONT MOVES IN LATE WEDNESDAY
BRINGING ANOTHER ROUND OF POSSIBLE GALES THROUGH THURSDAY AFTERNOON.
ANOTHER STRONG SYSTEM MOVES IN FRIDAY AND COULD BE ACCOMPANIED BY
VERY HIGH AND VERY LONG PERIOD SWELL. -SVEN/SPILDE

&&

.MFR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OR...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FROM 10 AM TO 10 PM PST TUESDAY FOR
        ORZ030-031.
     WIND ADVISORY FROM 10 AM TO 10 PM PST TUESDAY FOR ORZ030.
     HIGH WIND WARNING FROM 10 AM TO 10 PM PST TUESDAY FOR ORZ031.
     HIGH SURF ADVISORY UNTIL 10 AM PST TUESDAY FOR ORZ021-022.
     WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FROM 10 AM TO 10 PM PST TUESDAY FOR
        ORZ027-028.
     WIND ADVISORY FROM 7 AM TO 4 PM PST TUESDAY FOR ORZ026.

CA...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FROM 10 AM TO 10 PM PST TUESDAY FOR
        CAZ085.
     HIGH WIND WARNING FROM 10 AM TO 10 PM PST TUESDAY FOR CAZ085.
     WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL 4 PM PST TUESDAY FOR CAZ082.
     WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FROM 4 AM TO 4 PM PST TUESDAY ABOVE 5000
        FEET FOR FOR CAZ080.
     HIGH WIND WARNING FROM UNTIL 4 PM PST TUESDAY FOR CAZ081.

PACIFIC COASTAL WATERS...GALE WATCH FROM WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH
        THURSDAY AFTERNOON FOR PZZ350-356-370-376.
     SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY UNTIL 4 PM PST WEDNESDAY FOR PZZ350-356.
     HAZARDOUS SEAS WARNING UNTIL 10 AM PST TUESDAY FOR
        PZZ350-356-370-376.
     SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FROM 10 AM TUESDAY TO 4 PM PST WEDNESDAY
        FOR PZZ370-376.
     GALE WARNING UNTIL 10 AM PST TUESDAY FOR PZZ370-376.

15/15/16

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 high surf. Local standard time, as filed.

High Surf, South Central Oregon Coast

When: January 19, 8:00 AM PST to 9:00 AM PST
Where: South Central Oregon Coast forecast zone
Deaths: 0 direct, 3 indirect
Injuries: 0 direct, 1 indirect
Reported by: State Official
Coordinates: 42.979, -123.829 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
High Surf, South Central Oregon Coast	2016-01-19	31	Male	Boating	Indirect
High Surf, South Central Oregon Coast	2016-01-19	37	Male	Boating	Indirect
High Surf, South Central Oregon Coast	2016-01-19	52	Male	Boating	Indirect

What these are

High Surf: Large waves breaking on the shore that caused damage, erosion or casualties.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Oregon in 2016 Every state in 2016 This day in weather history Warnings in Oregon, January 2016

Sources

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: 611146.