[Update: Wed., July 30, 2025, 3:30pm] The tsunami advisory for Santa Barbara County triggered by yesterday’s 8.8 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula has been canceled, the county announced Wednesday afternoon. However, the county cautions that “rogue, higher-than-normal waves and strong currents may continue throughout coastal areas for several hours or days.” State, county, and Santa Barbara and Carpinteria city beaches are now open, but Vandenberg Space Force Base beaches will remain closed for the rest of the day. According to the National Weather Service, tsunami waves of 1.5 feet were observed in Santa Barbara shortly after 7 a.m. on Wednesday.
[Update: Wed., July 30, 2025, 9am] As of Wednesday morning, the tsunami advisory remained in place from Rincon Point to Humboldt and Del Norte county lines, with reports of waves as high as four feet arriving to Crescent City, not far from the Oregon border. In Santa Barbara, Harbormaster Mike Wiltshire said no earthquake-generated waves were evident. “As there is still a tsunami advisory in place, we are advising that people stay out of the water due to possible elevated currents,” he warned.
The highest waves in the Eastern Pacific were reported in Hawai’i — to nearly six-footers. Damage and injury were not evident in the U.S., according to media reports, but strong wave action injured a few people and damaged buildings and ships in the islands immediately south of Kamchatka — the Kuril Islands.
[Update: Tue., July 29, 2025, 7:30pm] The tsunami watch — the lowest category of danger — was raised to a tsunami advisory — the second-to-highest danger category — at 6:49 p.m. for coastal Los Angeles to San Luis Obispo counties by the National Weather Service. The series of tidal waves, of roughly one foot in the Santa Barbara region and lasting about nine hours, would arrive between midnight and 1 a.m. in these areas. Surging waters could affect boats and docking, as well as swimmers. Widespread flooding is not expected.
The U.S. Geological Survey estimated the quake’s magnitude to now be 8.8, and the depth to be approximately 12 miles.
[Original Story] A very large earthquake 80 miles southwest of Eastern Russia triggered tsunami warnings up and down the western coast of North America from Alaska to San Diego, the National Weather Service (NWS) announced this afternoon. The tidal waves will likely shove further south, should they arrive. In Santa Barbara, including the Channel Islands, the arrival time would be approximately 12:50 a.m. Pacific time on Wednesday, July 30, the NWS alert stated. The distance is 4,382 miles from Kamchatka Peninsula to Los Angeles. Over deep water, tsunamis can hit 500 miles an hour.
The earthquake occurred off Petropavlovsk Kamchatka, a city of approximately 164,000 people on the Sea of Ohkhotsk. Registering a preliminary magnitude 8.7, the earthquake shook the area at 4:25 p.m. Pacific time on Tuesday. Petropavlovsk Kamchatka is separated by a peninsula from the Northern Pacific Ocean, where the earthquake appears to have registered at a depth of 46 miles, according to CNN. Tsunami warnings have gone out in the region, including Eastern Russia and Japan. Comparatively, the 2011 Fukushima earthquake registered 9.0-9.1 in magnitude.
The tidal wave watch locally remains in effect until further notice. For more, see tsunami.gov.
Correction: The first version of this story stated a “warning” had been issued for Santa Barbara. The correct term is “watch.” This was subsequently upgraded to an “advisory,” in the three-tier system.
