Posted on 01/22/2005 12:24:37 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Sand goes and comes annually, but big storms pull some too far away to return.
Waves swept away half the sand on North Beach in San Clemente, where just a few months ago sunbathers basked. A rock that a beachgoer could stub a toe on in south Laguna during the summer months is now exposed as a 10-foot-tall boulder.
Recent storms have changed the coastline dramatically, shortening the beaches in height and width. It's a process that happens to varying degrees each year, with sand pulled out into the ocean in the winter and pushed back up on shore in the summer.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
From an aesthetic point of view you're right. It's a phenomena that happens every year to some degree - I know, because I lived/worked right on the beach in Santa Cruz for 10 years.
The real problem with the MAJOR storm seasons like this one is that the sand gets swept so far out it may never come back in the summer. In olden days I'd go "Not to worry, more sand will get washed down from the mountains to replace it." But nowadays that replacement sand is trapped behind all the dams that have been put in.
I'm not an enviro-whacko that says "tear down all the dams!" but it's too bad they weren't designed so that silt and sand could be periodically flushed out and downstream to replace what's lost.
Call Barbie Boxer, CA!
A child’s swing is high off the ground and stairs end in mid-air at El Morro Mobile Home Park at Crystal Cove Park, where locals say recent storms have dragged sand off the beach.
For those of you in the snow and cold here's the San Clemente Beach Cam. Multiple, rotating views, a little marine haze today but the surfers seem to be enjoying themselves. Careful, there was a gull on one of the camera platforms and I had to wipe my screen off.
Nice....
Let me guess... we're going to have the Navy & Army Corp of Engineers re-sanding the beaches again, right? Been there. Done that.
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