Over 20-Ft Waves, Flooding Return This Week to Washington / Oregon Coast

Published 12/23/24 at 10:35 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Manzanita, Oregon) – Wet, wild 'n windy – as well as flooding - is what's in store for the Oregon coast and Washington coast this week and over the weekend. Some of the high surf warnings / advisories have been extended into Tuesday morning, but once that calms more of it wanders this way. Yet another set of storms kicks in offshore mid week and sends waves to over 20 feet once again, joined by some serious rain and the possibility for flooding on coastal rivers. (Photo Cannon Beach: Kerry Burg, Oregon King Tides Project)

Waves have already reached monster categories Monday, with some spectacularly large breakers plummeting the south Oregon coast at Coos Bay's Shore Acres area, and at least one access in Lincoln City getting smothered. Surf warnings end late tonight but some advisories have been extended into Tuesday morning.

More is coming right around Christmas day.

The National Weather Service (NWS) in Portland and Medford have not issued warnings or advisories yet, but they have noted things are going to get crazy again – quick. They have, however, issued a hydrologic outlook that's going to spell a wet rather than white Christmas for most of the state. Long periods between swells are going to accentuate the rough conditions, and that coupled with what they call a “tidal anomaly” and really heavy rains will bring some floods from southern Washington down to the south Oregon coast.

“Another system combined with a large, mid period swell is expected to impact the region mid-week,” the NWS said. “Swell of 20-25 feet combined with wind waves will produce combined seas in the 25-30 foot range at 14-16 seconds. Swell heights combined with the mid teen period could produce High Surf conditions. During the same timeframe, a tide of 9 feet and a tidal anomaly of 3 feet combined with potential High Surf could support Coastal Flooding.”

Waves as high as 23 feet are predicted for now (though slightly less on the south coast), but those could change closer to the event.

Seal Rock / Oregon Coast Beach Connection

All that rain is gunning for areas like Vancouver, WA., Portland, Salem, McMinnville, Bandon, Port Orford, Pacific City, Seaside, Westport and into the Olympic Peninsula.

See  Oregon Coast Weather (including tides) - Inland Oregon Weather

“A series of systems will bring an extended period of wet weather across northwest Oregon and southwest Washington through the weekend,” the NWS said. “This will lead to rises on rivers and creeks, beginning Wednesday evening, Dec 25th through at least Sunday, December 29th. There is currently a 15-30% probability that rivers west of the Cascades reach minor flood stage over the next ten days.”

Shore Acres courtesy Oregon's Adventure Coast

Winds will be uncomfortably high on Wednesday (Christmas Day), with gusts up to 40 mph in some areas, though that should calm down soon after.

Places to check out this week for big wave action will be Yachats, jetties along the Oregon / Washington coast, Shore Acres and Cape Disappointment. Anything over 16 feet will likely yield some impressive shots, but you'll want to find days where the winds aren't too excessive.

Keep safety in mind: do NOT go on jetties and stay far from the surf action.

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Andre' GW Hagestedt is editor, owner and primary photographer / videographer of Oregon Coast Beach Connection, an online publication that sees over 1 million pageviews per month. He is also author of several books about the coast.

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