California's San Clemente beaches are disappearing: Here's why

San Clemente, the picture-perfect surfing capital of Southern California and future home of the 2028 Olympic surf competition at Lower Trestles, is watching its beaches vanish.

The significant reason is a potentially historic Super El Niño, combined with a massive surge of warm water known as a Kelvin wave, which is driving powerful waves against the Southern California coast.

USGS oceanographer Sean Vitousek warns that “We’re in for a run of pretty exceptional erosion events if this Super El Niño develops as it’s expected to.”

Storms in early September sent waves over the town’s train tracks, and experts say the worst may be yet to come.

San Clemente’s wide beaches weren’t entirely nature’s work. An estimated 2 million cubic yards of sand were dredged up during the construction of Dana Point’s harbour in the late 1960s and dumped onto the shoreline.

That midcentury sand is now largely gone.

Further development, especially dams on California’s rivers, has blocked the natural flow of sediment that would otherwise restock the beaches. Meanwhile, sea walls and rocky revetments built to protect homes and the coastal rail line block sand from circulating and cause waves to drag existing sand away.

California scientists warned in 2023 that climate-driven sea level rise threatens to erase 25% to 75% of the state’s beaches by 2100.