Surf’s way, way up as huge waves pound California coast

The largest waves in nearly two years pounded the California coast today, with the intense surf crashing onto beaches and raising the threat of flooding to coastal roads and communities.

High surf and coastal flood warnings and advisories were in effect along the coast as the National Weather Service advised people to stay out of the water and not even get near it.

“No selfie of the crashing waves is worth losing your life,” said Roger Gass, a meteorologist at the weather service office in Monterey, Calif.

The tumultuous surf arrived with a powerful swell that was generated by intense winds thousands of miles off the coast and traveled across the Pacific, building energy along the way.

The waves at the coast grew in size Friday night, as a rainstorm swept the state. They grew even larger this morning, smashing into coastal piers and sending water farther up beaches than usual.

The biggest waves were expected in Northern California, with heights of more than 40 feet at fully exposed beaches and reaching more than 50 feet at Mavericks, the big-wave surf spot 20 miles south of San Francisco.

While the waves at Ocean Beach in San Francisco thundered onto the sand early Saturday, the beach itself was quiet.

“It’s really rough out there,” said Spencer Schenking, 30, of Maryland, who was visiting a friend and surfs a little bit back East.

The tide was out, but the beach was saturated with water. Many large standing pools drained back to the ocean.

Cece Louie, who comes to Ocean Beach every morning, said, “I’ve never seen the beach this wet.”

In Santa Cruz, about 90 minutes south of San Francisco, city beaches were closed through Sunday.

Around 270 homes in Santa Cruz County were under evacuation warnings. These are the biggest waves the region has seen since December 2024, when the surf tore apart the municipal wharf. On Saturday, the wharf was closed.

Jason Hoppin, a spokesperson for the county, said that as of noon local time, there were a few road closures and no evacuation orders had been issued, though the threat of flooding remained.

“We’re seeing some minor flooding, but our infrastructure is holding up so far,” Hoppin said.

Santa Cruz has some of the most popular surf spots in the world, but the waves at most locations were too chaotic and intense today for surfers.

“I walked some of the shore this morning and did not see a single surfer at the Hook, which is unusual,” Hoppin said of the break that is often packed with surfers. “It’s like seeing an empty downtown in a big city.”

While the intense swell brought conditions too dangerous for even seasoned surfers at most beaches, it generated the huge walls of water that big-wave surfers crave at Mavericks, the famous break a half mile offshore from Half Moon Bay.

Mark Sponsler, who runs the website Stormsurf, estimated that waves at the site were more than 50 feet, potentially nearing 60 feet, this morning.

The big-wave surfer Bianca Valenti, 41, of San Francisco, was at Mavericks and said the waves were huge but that winds at the coast made them “very precarious and bouncy.”

Valenti said she saw both “great rides” and “some crazy wipeouts” this morning, and hoped conditions would improve.

Surfers also got into the water in San Francisco at Fort Point, where the Pacific Ocean becomes the bay.

Keith Hatcher, 43, a big-wave surfer, was getting ready to paddle out. He chose this location because his normal big-wave spots were too choppy and he was nursing an injury.

He also wanted to avoid the crowds at Mavericks. But this spot, a few miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge, was still a dangerous wave.

“It’s an adventurous beach,” he said. “To get out is a long paddle; there’s currents. And with the storm yesterday, there might be trees and logs in the lineup.”

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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