Giant waves slam California coast

A series of storm systems, driven by persistent low pressure near Alaska, is churning waters to dangerous levels along the West Coast of the United States.

The focus of the punishment from massive waves is from southern Washington state through central California. The San Francisco Bay area is one region taking the brunt, with waves expected to reach 30 to 40 feet in height through Tuesday.

This event is huge, and truly affecting the whole West Coast. High surf warnings extend from north of the Oregon and Washington border to about a twohour drive north of Los Angeles. High surf advisories or gale warnings stretch from the Canada to Mexico border.

“The dramatic wave heights are related to a consistent fetch of wind action that ... has origins up near Alaska,” writes Marshall Shepherd, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Georgia, for Forbes.

The cause of the widespread and life-threatening breakers along the West Coast is this massive upper-level low pressure complex spinning around the Gulf of Alaska.

The gigantic gyre is blasting storm after storm at the West Coast. It’s also fostering ideal conditions for strong winds to blow over hundreds of miles of ocean, virtually unaltered, which piles up mammoth waves in the process.

Expectations are for conditions so extreme that the National Weather Service in the San Francisco Bay tweeted, “STAY WELL BACK FROM THE OCEAN OR RISK CERTAIN DEATH.”