January 23, 2016

Report Details

Much change in the beach profile since early December. This stretch of beach had had much accumulation of sand in dunes, berms, and sandy plateaus up against the cliff. Some of these were 5 or 6 feet high and made the beach fairly steep except the areas close to the tidal waters. Since early in December the beach has been battered by a series of king tides, significant storm surges (sometimes at the same time) and very heavy rains. There has been much removal of sand, most of the major accumulations now are gone including almost 80% of the large plateau at the north end of the beach, which was heavily covered by plants and much driftwood. The beach is now 'lower' and the usual tides extend much further up the beach, often to the cliff base. There are signs of erosion in both the sand dunes and the rock cliffs at the back of the beach, although not significant in the sense of major erosion threatening the cliffs or the houses above. There are many rocks now uncovered from the overlaying sand. Much of the older driftwood is now gone, but a lot of new wood is now present. Some debris has come ashore, although none that looks like foreign material. It is wonderful to see how many people cooperate in collecting the debris and cleaning the beach.