Beaches erode in Malibu, waves blast across PCH near Pt Mugu Play

Malibu beaches are under severe stress, and PCH traffic was getting blasted with surf west of Malibu, as more than an inch of rain fell from this September hurricane slopover storm.

Although rain may be ending, yet another potential heat wave may be cooking up for Malibu. Fortunately this one may be relatively short lived.

Monday morning, Tropical Storm Marie was centered 760 miles south-southwest of Los Angeles, still pushing big swells and a band of rain toward us. Its track will maintain its position well away from Southern California.

The south swells have created an ongoing, significant hazard at the beaches. Waves broke onto Pacific Coast Highway, drenching motorists parked at the giant sand dune above Thornhill Broome Beach, 10 miles west of Trancas. Video showed waves slamming into the roadside rocks and towering 30 feet in the air, as salt water flowed onto travel lanes.

Caltrans was running rock plows back and forth to scrape sand away, as well as to do their normal job of removing sharp boulders and rocks that fall onto the highway at the Point Mugu road cut.

Monday night's high tide is expected with 8-foot surf atop the predicted 7.3-foot lunar high tide. Keep in mind that actual tide measurements are running 6 to 12 inches higher than the predictions, due to a planetary "Kelvin" wave arriving at western North America this month.

Zuma Beach has lost half of its width over the weekend, and the remaining beach is getting flooded at high tide. Westward Beach is only a sliver. Most of the sand has washed away from the emergency rock wall, west to the Sunset Restaurant at Birdview.

As the rain moves out, rapidly increasing heat concerns are the main story over land, especially along the coast, by Wednesday. The potential for extreme humidity will make it MUCH more miserable outside.

There is a huge amount of moisture in the air still heading our way from the tropical storm, the ocean temperatures are well above normal, and the ground is soggy from all that rainfall.

Overnight lows will be above 70 — maybe into the 80s — well into the evening and even overnight for some areas. This heat may feel comparable or even slightly worse than recent heat waves, especially near the coast.