El Niño and beach erosion, West Coast

Same on the east coast right now too much sand.

It should be very good. Warmer surface waters in the pacific means more and stronger hurricanes around the pacific. This means we should get a lot of big waves which should pull a ton of sand into deeper water. It hasn't starter yet, my beaches are all still painfully sanded in, but keep a close eye on the surf forecasts.

Expect to see beaches that are normally super sanded in, with little to no sand on them and pebbles everywhere. Make sure you have a good VLF with fast recovery, because there is a stupid amount of iron when it gets down to pebbles.

I would also suggest a good strong scoop. I use my Nuttall scoop when it gets down to pebbles, nearly impossible to dig through them with a round lip like my RTG has.

Thanks Crumble. That Nutall Diamondhead looks like a very capable scoop for all conditions. "A good VLF with fast recovery," eh?

While all of us West Coast Beach Hunters are getting excited about an El Nino year, many factors need to come into play to make it good for detecting.

Direction of the Jet Stream, swell size and direction and it's coordination with tide times and levels are just a few that come to mind.

Did not mean to out a damper on the enthusiasm! I am looking forward to this as much as the next guy!!

I remember beach hunting when the sand cuts were 8-10 ft. I had to make a way down. Oh the good o days.

I've been through the El Nino's of 1980, '82-83, & '97-98, and they can be a LOT of fun . Targets so thick you spend HOURS in a space no bigger than your living room. Every scoop has multiple targets. Stories of 100+ silver in a single day, etc.....

But the news is also saying that there's been predictions in the past that failed to pan out. However, they're ranking this particular one with a good degree of certainty (let's cross our fingers).

Some other factors are going to be: The days the storm swell train arrives on. If it arrives on a medium tide day, then it won't erode as much. So if you look at the tide charts, you see, on the west coast, about 13 to 14-ish days per month, on the average winter months, where the high tides reach 5.5 or higher. Ideally, we hope it lands onshore when it's 6 ft. or better tides. That allows the high water mark to be eroding up into where it's normally "high and dry". Versus just bashing around on the inter-tidal zone, where the sand is already "acclimated". Does that make any sense ?

I don't know about Oregon beaches though.

Tom, your post makes perfect sense. Thanks. Fingers crossed for a doozy of a winter storm season.

Hello from Roseburg. I gave up on Oregon ocean beaches. It could erode 20 feet and I wouldn't drive over there. There is just nobody in the water to lose anything within 3 hours of me.

I have seen pictures of people in the water at Lincoln City. And I know there are crowds on the sand at Cannon Beach and Seaside, but not in water.

Anyhow, I am just curious if you find enough to cover gas for your drive over. I hope so, and good luck whether or not the erosion comes. I get adventurous sometimes, if you want to PM me, I might make a trip.

I hope it pans out to be a good one. Just once I'd like to get in on some of that cut action......

Traveler, as you know, our Pacific Ocean temps here in Oregon are rarely conducive to serious swimming, except for polar bears, and they don't wear much jewelry. Still, there have to be some strata holding worthwhile amounts of targets somewhere, with all the people who go to the beach to play.

The Traveler said:

Hello from Roseburg. I gave up on Oregon ocean beaches. It could erode 20 feet and I wouldn't drive over there. There is just nobody in the water to lose anything within 3 hours of me....

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Traveler: rings and coins can be lost even on beaches with waters that are too cold to go into (without a wet-suit). But yes: warm water beaches, with lots of swimmers, *DO* increase jewelry ratios. And BTW: not just jewelry lost *in* the water, but also the mere fact of swimming, means that the jewelry can also be lost up in the dry, d/t the human nature of people who take off their jewelry for "safekeeping" BEFORE they go in for a swim. Doh!

but in any case, we have beaches were I'm at, that are near our Monterey bay "submarine canyon", which, like yours, are too cold to enter into past your knees. Yet we find jewelry.

I think the reason why 20 ft. of sand can be stripped, without good results, is NOT because of water temperatures, but because you're probably dealing with beaches that are very susceptible to erosion and re-fills annually, for 100+ years. Ie.: 20 ft. "in and out" is maybe the "norm" for certain beaches.

I too can think of beaches near me, where big cuts can form, where it's still frickin ZINC and recent year's losses. Contrast to other beaches where it's less susceptible to big waves, and a mere 2 ft. cut can spell silver coins. Each beach faces a different window-look to the ocean. And hence each acclimates to it's own "norms". So you might be at a beach that has just "come and gone" so often, that it's takes erosion "above and beyond" those past norms.