High surf warning issued as waves as high as 40 feet predicted for Bay Area coastline

Beachgoers, be warned.

The National Weather Service has issued a high surf warning for Sonoma County and the rest of the Bay Area for Thursday.

Very high swell from the west and northwest will result in breaking waves from 25 to 30 feet in height, according to an alert posted on the weather service’s San Francisco Bay Area website.

Some parts of the coast will see even bigger waves, according to Alexis Clouser, a Monterey-based meteorologist for the weather service. Certain breakpoints already known for their surf could see waves “around 30 feet, but occasionally as large as 40 feet,” she said.

The alert covers the coastline from Central through Northern California, from Ragged Point, at the southern end of Big Sur, to Cooks Beach, just north of Gualala.

This extraordinarily large surf is the result of storms and sustained high winds far out at sea, said Clouser. Those conditions generate large swells which result in bigger breaking waves at the coastline.

Such colossal surf brings with it the added dangers of powerful rip currents, storm surge and so-called “sneaker waves.”

“For people on the beach itself, or jetties and other outcroppings, there is the potential for them to be swept” out into those waves, said Clouser.

Precautions the weather service recommends beachgoers take include staying off coastal jetties, keeping an eye on kids and pets and never turning your back on the ocean.

Better still, stay away until the surf gets smaller.

“It’s not a good time to be near or around the water,” added Clouser. “These waves are dangerous.”

The high surf warning is in effect from 3 a.m. Thursday to 3 a.m. Friday.

You can reach Staff Writer Austin Murphy at austin.murphy@pressdemocrat.com or on X, formerly Twitter, @ausmurph88.