South Oregon Coast Waves Up to 25 Feet; Washington Coast Snow Advisory

Published 2/29/24 at 6:15 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff

(Ocean Shores, Washington) – It's a fairly normal situation for the southern Oregon coast to get hit with a high surf advisory, but the north and central Washington coast are under an unusual Winter Weather Advisory and some amount of snow. Places like Coos Bay, Winchester Bay and Port Orford will be looking at exceptionally high waves, but Washington coast towns like Aberdeen, Queets and Ocean Shores may be staring down some snow accumulation. (Above: Highway 26 / Oregon Coast Beach Connection stock photo)

Late this afternoon, the winter advisory for the Oregon Coast Range was upgraded to a Winter Storm Warning. There is also a small chance of snow flakes on the north Oregon coast.

The National Weather Service (NW) issued the high surf advisory for all of the south Oregon coast – Reedsport through Brookings – in effect from today through late Friday. 22-foot waves are expected along the shoreline, creating super fun sights at areas like Shore Acres State Park but dangerous situations on beaches like those at Nesika or Gold Beach.

The NWS said wave height coming ashore could be as high as 25 feet on the south coast. See Washington Coast Weather - Oregon Coast Weather

“Large breaking waves will create hazardous conditions along and within the surf zone, and could inundate beaches and low lying shorelines,” the NWS said. “Beach erosion is possible, and exposed infrastructure may be damaged.”

On the upper half of the Oregon coast, no warning is issued (as yet), but Friday sees wave height offshore reaching up to 20 feet, so it is a good time to be cautious along that large chunk of coastline from Florence through to Long Beach.

Washington Coast as seen from Astoria - photo Angi D Wildt Gallery

Traveling to the northern half may be difficult at times through Friday, as there is a Winter Storm Warning for the upper reaches of the Oregon Coast Range through Friday, with areas above 1500 feet getting as much as 8 inches of snow.

From Westport northward, the Washington coast will see some snowflakes, with the NWS issuing a Winter Weather Advisory. This runs from the eastern edges of the Juan de Fuca Straight all the way down the outer coast to Grays Harbor, in effect through noon on Friday.

“Localized heavier amounts of snow are possible due to convective snow banding, which will increase snowfall rates,” the NWS said.

Plan on slippery conditions in many areas, the NWS said.

However, coastal beach areas are usually not apt to get much in accumulation due to the warmer influence of the ocean.

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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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