Two powerful hurricanes churning through the eastern Pacific off the coast of Mexico are generating dangerous high surf and hazardous conditions along the Southern California coastline. While neither storm is projected to make landfall in California, the combination of elevated waves and unusually high tides has prompted coastal flood advisories across multiple counties, according to the National Weather Service.
Pacific Hurricanes Drive High Surf to Southern California
Hurricane Polo, a powerful Category 4 storm with sustained winds reaching 140 mph, is tracking toward Baja California Sur, where it is expected to deliver heavy rain and flooding. Meanwhile, Hurricane Odalys packs winds of 90 mph roughly 900 miles west of Baja’s southern tip, though forecasters expect it to turn away from land and gradually weaken. Although the systems will stay south of the U.S. border, their sprawling reach is pushing four- to seven-foot surf into Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
Lisa Phillips, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Oxnard office, explained that ocean water is creeping higher than normal due to the overlapping timing of the heavy swells and astronomical high tides. “We also have high tides going on at the same time as the higher surf, so that’s when we start to see more of those coastal flooding impacts, beach erosion,” Phillips said.
Coastal Flood Advisories and Regional Weather Impacts
The National Weather Service issued coastal flood advisories for Los Angeles and Ventura counties, remaining in effect through Tuesday. Neighboring Orange and San Diego counties face similar hazards under an advisory running from Monday through Wednesday. Authorities advise beachgoers to exercise caution, consult local lifeguards before entering the water, and avoid rock jetties entirely.
The heavy ocean conditions recall damage from earlier in the month, when intense waves spawned by Hurricane Marie battered beachfront properties and eroded local beaches in Southern California. In Long Beach, crews have constructed defensive berms, distributed sandbags, and reinforced sections of the boardwalk and seawall to protect residential structures.
Beyond coastal hazards, the storms are influencing weather patterns across the wider Southwest. Marty Ralph, director of the Center for Western Weather & Water Extremes at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, noted that exceptional ocean warmth—tied to a marine heat wave and a strong El Niño pattern—has helped fuel the storms. “To have a storm of this intensity persist as a strong hurricane all the way into Baja is unusual,” Ralph said, adding that warm waters off Mexico allow the systems to retain their structure longer than normal.
While Southern California will likely experience only scattered clouds and isolated showers on the outer edges of the storm system, Arizona and New Mexico are braced for substantial rainfall. Forecasters suggest the influx of tropical moisture could also deliver a much-needed boost to depleted reservoirs along the Colorado River.
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