The Thanksgiving-week “bomb cyclone” storm that drenched California not only set a record for the lowest pressure recorded in the state, but also generated a 75-foot wave off Cape Mendocino. 94 Cape Mendocino buoy operated by Scripps Institution of Oceanography Coastal Data Information Program recorded a maximum significant wave height of 43.1 feet, and that night also measured a wave of 75 feet. 168 Humboldt Bay North Spit buoy recorded significant wave heights of 37.6 feet, but in shallower water. The storm set the preliminary low-pressure record for California with a reading of 973.6 millibars at Crescent City. “But if anyone was at sea in a small boat near that storm,” Patzert said, “it must have been hell and, possibly, deadly.”

Source: Los Angeles Times December 06, 2019 04:23 UTC