On Saturday, January, 15th 2022, an underwater volcano erupted near Tonga in the South Pacific causing a Tsunami Advisory along the California coast.
At 8:13 AM, The National Weather Service Tsunami Warning tweeted, “A Tsunami is occurring. Remember- the first wave may not be the largest. Move away from the shore and head to high ground.”
The National Weather Service cautions that Tsunami Advisories can cause strong currents, dangerous waves, and flooding of beaches and harbors. Residents were cautioned to stay away from beaches, waterways, and out of the water.
Orange County beaches and harbors were closed and lineups across the state appeared mostly empty despite solid surf along the coast.
“I live right here, and they cleared the beach,” Huntington Beach surfer Teddy Navarro told The Inertia. “Nothing too significant.”
“I watched it, but nothing really happened at Porto,” Los Angeles surfer Hunter Jones told The Inertia.
Jones managed to sneak a session in later in the evening in Los Angeles around 5 PM.
The advisory didn’t extend south of the border to Mexico where conditions were ideal. San Clemente surfer Kei Kobayashi was there to capitalize.
“No [mention] of the tsunami down in Mexico,” San Clemente’s Kei Kobayashi told The Inertia. “Just firing waves.”
Satellite imagery of the underwater volcano eruption near Tonga courtesy of NOAA. Kei Kobayashi scores in Mexico, where no Tsunami Advisory was active. Photo: @aldentatum
As of 9:27 PM PT on January 15th, Tsunami Watches remained in effect at the Oregon and California border as well as from Ragged Point, California to Rincon Point, California. Stay tuned for tsunami updates at tsunami.gov.
