Waking up to a frantic text or a weirdly specific news alert about the ocean can definitely spike your heart rate. If you are standing on the sand right now looking at the horizon, let’s get the big answer out of the way immediately. No, there was not a tsunami in California today.
The West Coast is quiet.
Well, "quiet" in a tectonic sense. As of Sunday, January 18, 2026, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Tsunami Warning Center have confirmed there are currently no active tsunami warnings, watches, or advisories for the California coastline. You can breathe. But if you saw some "breaking news" clip or a weirdly ominous TikTok, you aren't necessarily imagining things—you’re likely seeing remnants of news from a few days ago or confusing a "micro-quake" with a major event.
Why People Are Asking: The Oregon Quake and Winter Swells
Honestly, the confusion probably stems from what happened just 48 hours ago. On Friday, January 16, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Oregon, near Bandon.
Whenever a "6" pops up on the USGS maps in the Pacific, the word "tsunami" starts trending instantly. It's like a reflex. While that quake was shallow (about 10 kilometers deep), it didn't have the "oomph" or the specific vertical displacement needed to push a massive column of water toward San Francisco or Los Angeles. Officials cleared it almost immediately, but the digital echo of that event is still bouncing around social media today.
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Then you've got the weather. It is January.
California is currently getting hammered by standard winter storm systems. These aren't tsunamis, but they are producing monster waves and dangerous sneaker waves. If you see a beach in Ventura or Santa Cruz looking like a disaster zone with water rushing up into the parking lots, that's likely "king tides" or storm surge, not a seismic wave. Meteorologists at the National Weather Service have been hammering this point: a weather-driven wave can kill you just as easily as a tsunami, but the cause is wind, not an earthquake.
The "Micro-Quake" Reality of Sunday morning
If you live in Southern California, you might have felt a tiny jiggle this morning. Around 6:40 AM PST, a small magnitude 1.8 quake hit near Cabazon.
Is it a threat? Not even close.
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California averages dozens of these tiny tremors every single day. Most are so small you wouldn't notice them unless you were sitting perfectly still in a very quiet room. For a tsunami to actually threaten the California coast, we usually need a massive subduction zone event—think magnitude 7.5 or higher—either right off our coast or across the "Ring of Fire" in places like Japan, Alaska, or Russia.
What Actually Happened Recently (The Russia Alert)
To be fair to the folks who are worried, we did have a legitimate scare not too long ago. There was a massive magnitude 8.8 earthquake near Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula that actually triggered a Tsunami Advisory for parts of California.
During that event, we saw actual water displacement.
- Fort Bragg and Crescent City saw small surges around midnight.
- San Francisco had water level changes about 40 minutes later.
- The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach went on high alert as the energy moved south.
But that was a specific, rare event. Today? The buoys are flat. The deep-ocean assessment and reporting of tsunamis (DART) system—those yellow buoys you see on maps—shows totally normal sea levels across the Eastern Pacific.
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How to Spot the Real Deal (Before the Internet Tells You)
Look, if a real tsunami was coming, you wouldn’t be casually googling it while sipping coffee. The "Natural Warning Signs" are usually way faster than a government text alert. If you are at the beach and notice the water receding—like, the tide goes out way further and faster than it ever should—run. Don’t wait. Don't grab your phone to film it.
That "drawback" is the ocean literally sucking air before it exhales a wall of water. Also, listen for a roar. People who survived the 2011 Japan tsunami or the 1964 Crescent City disaster described a sound like a freight train or a jet engine coming from the horizon.
Current Coastline Status: What You Need to Do
Since there is no tsunami today, your "action items" are basically just standard California coastal common sense.
- Check the Surf Forecast: While there's no tsunami, the winter swells are still "high energy." If the NWS has a High Surf Advisory out, stay off the jetties.
- Verify with Tsunami.gov: If you ever see a weird post on X (formerly Twitter) about a wave, go straight to the source. If that site doesn't have a red or orange banner, you’re fine.
- Know Your Zone: Most coastal towns now have blue signs that say "Tsunami Evacuation Route." Next time you're out for a walk, just glance at which way the arrow points. It’s better to know the path to high ground when you don't need it than to hunt for it during a siren.
Basically, the ocean is behaving itself today. There’s no wall of water heading for the Golden Gate, and the sirens are silent. Enjoy the beach, keep an eye on those winter "sneaker waves," and maybe keep a "Go Bag" in the car just because we live in a state that likes to shake.
Your next move: Download the MyShake app or a similar early-warning tool. These use your phone’s accelerometer to give you a few seconds of warning before earthquake waves hit, which is often the only head-start you'll get before a local tsunami starts its run toward the shore.