Marie was predicted to bring bountiful swell. It certainly delivered, along with glorious conditions at times. Marie was downgraded to a tropical storm before it impacted Southern California this holiday weekend – but it still lit up Newport Beach’s hurricane-swell-loving point. The place went richter, with visions of the North Shore crown jewel dancing in most observer’s heads.
“If the name Marie sounds familiar, it should. Hurricane Marie in August 2014 set the benchmark for Southern California hurricane swells, producing the legendary ‘Big Wednesday’ and some of the biggest, best surf Newport Beach had seen in decades,” reads the caption to the above edit on the YouTube page SoCal Surfer. “This wasn’t 2014 Marie, but for a few hours this morning, Newport Beach gave us some serious flashbacks. Square barrels, heavy wipeouts, and waves that looked a whole lot more like Pipeline than Southern California.”
Tropical Storm Marie still brought coastal flooding to parts of the Southland including Long Beach. And while the waves might not have matched the 2014 swell event of the same name, they came close, with surfers continuing to benefit from a historic summer of southern hemisphere swell.
