Big waves in forecast for today

“A big westerly wave train from a vigorous storm out across the central Pacific has generated a bunch of waves,” said Brian Garcia, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Eureka.

Waves are expected to be about 20 feet every 15 seconds and breakers can reach up to 22–23 feet in the surf zone, Garcia said.

Beach-goers are advised to stay from back from the water and stay off rocks and jetties and children should be in life jackets because of the risk of being swept away by a sneaker wave.

Even in the afternoon and into Friday, when the waves are expected to taper down to 10-15 feet, the water will still be turbulent and currents strong.

“People can get a false sense of security,” Garcia said, “but it’s best to have your guard up.”

Close to 4 inches of rain fell at the airport during the last week of December, bringing the month’s rain total to 4.34 inches, well below the average of 11.27 inches for Crescent City.

The Smith River was flowing nicely after some rain. At Doctor Fine Bridge the river hit “monitor stage” at 27 feet Dec. 30 — flood stage is 33 feet.

This weekend is looking sunny so far, as is the rest of January.

“From where we’re at right now, it’s looking like a fairly dry January,” Garcia said.

Weak fronts will pass through, he said, but the month will have a lot of sunny days like the coast has been seeing lately.

The West is in another La Niña year, which is when the waters of the Pacific cool around the Equator, Garcia explained. That can mean a cool and wet winter for the Pacific Northwest like last year, but this year’s it’s been different.

“The arctic oscillation has been messing with our weather patterns, shifting the jet stream further north,” Garcia said.

Northern Oregon and Washington have been getting the rain while our area has been “getting clipped, at best,” he said.

Last year, the arctic oscillation was pushing the jet stream south, hammering the area with rain, Garcia said.

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