California, 2025Sneakerwave in California, January 19, 2025
January 19, 2025 · NWS MTR · 1 event in 1 county or zone
A father and son from San Jose perished at Cowell Ranch State Beach near Half Moon Bay after the son was swept into the ocean by a sneaker wave. State park lifeguards and rangers responded to the water rescue and pulled the two into a Harbor Patrol vessel.
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
- Deaths
- 2
- 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.
A father and son from San Jose perished at Cowell Ranch State Beach near Half Moon Bay after the son was swept into the ocean by a sneaker wave. State park lifeguards and rangers responded to the water rescue and pulled the two into a Harbor Patrol vessel. The two were taken to Stanford Medical Center, where they died. A Beach Hazards Statement was in effect due to an increased risk of sneaker waves and rip currents, especially along west-facing beaches. At the time of the incident, Saildrone 1801593 (at the approximate site of the former buoy 46012 near Half Moon Bay) reported a significant wave height of 6.9 feet and a dominant period of 18 seconds.
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 San Francisco Bay Area, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 19, 2:53 PM PST, 20 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jan 19, 2:53 PM PST, 20 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Service Notice</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
<main class="wrap">
<section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
<div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
<h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
<p id="message1">
The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
</p>
<p id="message2">
Please try again in a few minutes.
</p>
<p class="small" id="detail">
If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
</p>
</section>
</main>
<script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>Sneakerwave, Northern Monterey Bay
- When
- January 19, 3:13 PM PST
- Where
- Northern Monterey Bay forecast zone
- Deaths
- 2 direct, 0 indirect
- Reported by
- Newspaper
- Coordinates
- 37.022, -122.010 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
A father and son from San Jose perished at Cowell Ranch State Beach after the son was swept into the ocean by a sneaker wave. State park lifeguards and rangers responded to the water rescue and pulled the two into a Harbor Patrol vessel. The two were taken to Stanford Medical Center, where they died.
- Sneakerwave
- An unexpectedly large wave that surged far up a beach and swept people or objects away.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
- Cold in Wisconsin, January 19, 20251 death · 1 event
- Cold in South Dakota, January 19, 20251 death · 1 event
- Rip Current in Puerto Rico, January 19, 20251 death · 1 event
- Cold in Texas, January 19 to 22, 202546 events
- Heavy Snow and Winter Weather in West Virginia, January 19 to 20, 202540 events
- Cold and Sleet in Texas, January 19 to 22, 202539 events
- Extreme Cold in Wisconsin, January 19 to 21, 202530 events
- Extreme Cold in South Dakota, January 19 to 20, 202528 events
- Ice Storm and Cold in Texas, January 19 to 22, 2025$2,000 · 26 events
- Extreme Cold in Minnesota, January 19 to 21, 202524 events
- Extreme Cold in South Dakota, January 19 to 21, 202524 events
- Cold in Kentucky, January 19 to 22, 202520 events
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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1229362.