California, 2017

High Surf in California, January 21, 2017

January 21, 2017 · NWS LOX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Very high surf conditions (25-28 feet) developed along the Central Coast. The high surf swept a man off the rocks near Morro Rock.

The toll

Deaths
1
Injuries
0
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 LOX wrote it up.

Very high surf conditions (25-28 feet) developed along the Central Coast. The high surf swept a man off the rocks near Morro Rock.

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 Los Angeles, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 21, 10:34 AM PST, 26 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 21, 10:34 AM PST, 26 minutes before
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In the hours before

Local storm report, Jan 21, 8:02 AM PST, 2 hours 58 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OXNARD CA
802 AM PST SAT JAN 21 2017

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0700 AM     HIGH SURF        VENTURA                 34.27N 119.26W
01/21/2017                   VENTURA            CA   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            VENTURA HARBOR REPORTED SURF OF 16 FEET NEAR THE HARBOR
            ENTRANCE.

&&

KITTELL

Event by event

1 high surf. Local standard time, as filed.

High Surf, San Luis Obispo County Central Coast

When
January 21, 11:00 AM PST to 12:00 PM PST
Where
San Luis Obispo County Central Coast forecast zone
Deaths
1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by
Coast Guard

High surf swept a man off the rocks near Morro Rock. The individual was pronounced dead.

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.

EventDateAgeSexWhereKind
High Surf, San Luis Obispo County Central Coast2017-01-2165MaleIn WaterDirect

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

More

Every storm in California in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyWarnings in California, January 2017

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: 677813.