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Tsunami Advisory in Effect: California Coast

The National Weather Service has issued a tsunami advisory for the California Coast from the Bay Area to San Diego County for this afternoon. The tsunami was triggered by a magnitude 8.8 earthquake that hit Chile this AM.

In the Bay Area, the advisory covers Alameda, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, Marin, Monterey, Contra Costa, Napa, Sonoma, and Santa Clara counties.

An “advisory” is the NWS’s lowest-level alert — it means there could be waves and strong currents, but that officials don’t expect “inundation.” Still, the service says, we might see “dangerous surges and currents” in harbors and bays. And that means stay off beaches and marinas for the afternoon and secure your boats. (The first waves are expected to hit around 1:20 pm.) You can track arrival times and expected wave amplitude for the California coast and Bay Area at the NWS Tsunami Warning Center site.

The tsunami is expected to cause greater damage in other areas. NWS has issued a tsunami “warning” (the highest alert) for Hawaii, where emergency response plans are already in effect there: e.g., tourists in Waikiki, residents in shoreline areas, and everyone at Hilo International Airport already have been ordered to evacuate. The tsunami is expected to generate waves as high as 8 feet — but not the “wall” of water with which we often associate tsunamis.

Tsunami warnings are also for South America, Australia and New Zealand, Japan, the Philippines, Russia and many Pacific islands.