May 31, 1854 Tsunami: S. California, United States
A tsunami caused by an earthquake and a landslide began at S. California, United States on May 31, 1854 at 12:59 UTC. Its effects were recorded at 1 place.
Where the waves reached
The source (white) and every runup with a place, colored by the water height recorded there. A ring is a runup NCEI marks doubtful.
- Under 1 m
- 1 to 3 m
- 3 to 10 m
- 10 to 30 m
- 30 m and more
- Height not recorded
Travel times
How long the first wave took to reach each part of the ocean, one line for each hour up to 24, estimated from the source and the depth of the sea.
The travel times are computed in your browser, which needs JavaScript.
- 1 to 4 hours
- 5 to 6 hours
- 7 to 14 hours
- 15 hours and more
Computed in your browser the way NOAA’s own travel time maps are: the wave travels at the square root of gravity times the depth, over NOAA’s ETOPO1 depths averaged to a 10 arc-minute grid. Checked against NOAA NCEI’s maps for 21 tsunamis over the first 24 hours, these lines fall within 10 minutes of NCEI’s at half the points compared and within 52 minutes at 9 in 10. They give when the first wave could arrive, not how high it is; bays, harbors and island chains finer than the grid can see it later. Not for use in a warning: see tsunami.gov.
The tsunami
- Date
- May 31, 1854, 12:59 UTC
- Source
- S. California, United States
- Cause
- Earthquake and landslide
- Earthquake
- The earthquake
- Runups recorded
- 1
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 0
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Very doubtful tsunami
- Source location
- 34.400° N, 119.700° W
The toll
The record gives no deaths, injuries or damage for this tsunami.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
1854, May 31. "Trask (1856, p. 89) reports "An earthquake at Santa Barbara ten minutes before five o'clock in the morning. There were three vibrations, the first of which was accompanied by a deep rumble; the second was preceded by a loud rushing sound like the approach of a strong wind. About four or five seconds elapsed between each shock. The sea was much distrubed and a heavy swell came in after the second shock was felt which passed some thirty feet beyond the old wreck near the embarcadero. The inhabitants left their beds in their night attire and sought the street, but little damage was done." Later Trask (1864, p. 187) described as "surf" swell and "surf" waves the effect of which he had seen on the following July. No activity was seen on the marigrams recorded at Monterey, North Beach, or San Diego, all rather far away for recording a minor local tsunami. The Los Angeles Daily California Chronicle had no mention of an earthquake or wave activity for the period of May 31 through June 5th but Perrey (1856a, p. 548) says for May 1854 "the 29th again at Santa Barbara, a light shock," makes it possible that this event is slightly misdated. (reference #237)
1854, May 31, 4:50 (local time). There were shocks at Santa Barbara. The people were very frightened and fled their homes. The sea was very agitated, but did not do any damage. In Joy's opinion (Joy, 1968), either these data are mistaken or these were seiches (Reference #415).
Reference #237 gives this event a validity 3 based entirely on Trask's reports. There were no California earthquakes in 1854 listed in any of the historical earthquake catalogs listed below. Therefore, the validity was downgraded to a 1.
Coffman, J.L. and C.A. von Hake, 1973-1982, Earthquake History of the United States, Pub. 41-1, U.S. Department of Commerce, Boulder, CO, 1973, and 1982 Supplement.
Stover, Carl W., and Jerry L. Coffman, 1993, Seismicity of the United States, 1568-1989 (Revised), U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1527, United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
USGS, 2006, US Earthquake Information by State, retrieved Oct 2, 2006, from http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/states.php
Every runup
Nearest the source first. Heights are above sea level at the time; a tide gauge reads half the wave’s full height.
| Where | Country | Km from source | Water height, m | Inland, m | Measured by | First wave, UTC | Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Barbara, CA, CA | United States | 3 | Other |
More
Every tsunami in 1854The 1800sTsunamis of United StatesThe earthquakeThis day in weather historyAlerts in force
Sources
Tsunami events and runups from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI tsunami event 819.