August 29, 2023 Tsunami: Vancouver Island, Canada
A tsunami of meteorological origin began at Vancouver Island, Canada on August 29, 2023. The water rose as high as 0.15 meters. Its effects were recorded at 6 places.
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
The tsunami
- Date
- August 29, 2023
- Source
- Vancouver Island, Canada
- Cause
- Meteorological
- Maximum water height
- 0.15 m (0.5 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 6
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Definite tsunami
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.
A prominent seiche event was found to occur on 29 August 2023 on the southern coast of Vancouver Island in the area of the Saanich Peninsula […] the event was very localized. Preliminary investigation of the CHS air pressure records at Patricia Bay, Port Alberni and Tofino revealed that the extreme seiches detected in a few southern stations were produced by a train of extreme atmospheric high-frequency waves propagating over the Saanich Peninsula and adjacent areas of the Strait of Juan De Fuca and the Strait of Georgia. The generated sea level oscillations had characteristics typical of tsunami waves and are referred to as a meteotsunami. (reference #13987)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Point Atkinson, British Columbia, BC | Canada | 0.04 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 29, 10:48 | |||
| Port Renfrew, British Columbia, BC | Canada | 0.11 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 29, 10:09 | |||
| Bamberton, British Columbia, BC | Canada | 0.09 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 29, 10:00 | |||
| Patricia Bay, British Columbia, BC | Canada | 0.07 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 29, 09:57 | |||
| Sidney, British Columbia, BC | Canada | 0.09 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 29, 09:54 | |||
| Victoria, British Columbia, BC | Canada | 0.15 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 29, 09:27 |
More
Every tsunami in 2023The 2000sTsunamis of CanadaThis 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 6008.