Mid December Storm 12/18/02

This page contains three photo panels that were taken during the big 12/18 storm, the day after, and a week after.

Below you see a few pictures of the most recent storm, followed by others that I took the day after at The Cove. The first three are not as sharp as I'd like, because I had to take them through the windshield on my car between wiper swipes. If I had tried to take my camera outside, the rain would have ruined it.

The Cove is usually a dry enclosed sandy beach that is protected by steep 20' walls. As you can see in the pictures, the cove was totally flooded, and the surf was breaking nearly at the top of the steps carved in the wall.

To view a full sized picture, click on the thumbnail image below. To return to this page, click on your browser's "Back" button.

The pictures below were shot the day after the storm. They show what washed up on Seabright Beach. Seabright is usually pristine, but gets ugly after a storm.

On the photo shoot a month ago, I mentioned that much damage on the coast is caused more by floating logs and trees. Logs and entire trees flow down through creeks and the San Lorenzo river, and get violently slammed back by the surf.

Take a look at the next pictures and you'll see the amount of logs and trees that washed out to sea and got washed back. Note how far ashore the logs came. You can see how big the stuff is by comparing it with the tiny people in the pictures. Pacific storms are something else.

The final six pictures on this page came a week after the storm. They show Twin Lakes Beach on an exceptionally clear day. The hills across the bay are the Montery area, about 30 miles as the crow flies. On one shot, you can actually make out the power plant at Moss landing.

The streetcar pilings show how much sand was washed out during the storm. In the summer they are buried beneath the sand, and on a typical winter six inches or so will stick out. This year, more than five feet of pilings are exposed due to uncommonly powerful storms.