By Lookout Staff
Staff Writer

January 13, 2016 -- Santa Monica’s ocean waters continued to experience high waves and rip currents Tuesday, triggering a new warning of hazardous conditions even as the Southland enjoyed clear skies after last week’s pounding by El Nino.

The U.S. National Weather Service issued a high surf advisory for local beaches until 3 a.m. on Wednesday. Forecasters said surf could reach 10 feet by Tuesday morning on west facing beaches from Palos Verdes to Santa Monica and from Point Dume to Zuma Beach.

Although last week’s El Nino storms were replaced by calm and sunny weather Tuesday, with more of the same predicted for Wednesday, authorities were still on alert. They asked the public to remain careful around the ocean -- no matter how inviting the waters might seem from afar.

The high surf and rip currents make swimming and rock jetties dangerous, they said.

“Take it seriously,” Lidia Barillas, a Los Angeles County lifeguard, said of the new advisory. “People want to go watch the big waves, but it’s wet and rocky out there and you need to watch out and be careful.”

The advisory also reminded anyone caught in a rip current to swim parallel to shore until free of it, and to always swim near a lifeguard.

Last week’s heavy rains prompted both safety and health-related contamination advisories for Santa Monica’s ocean waters. A warning of high surf, sometimes deadly “sneaker waves” and possible flooding was in effect through last Thursday as the Southland’s first El Nino storms of 2016 rolled through.

Additional worries were beach erosion and possible damage to coastal structures such as the Pier, along with flooding of low-lying parking lots, walkways and nearby campgrounds.

Barillas said no incidents were reported, however.

She said no public health advisories of contamination were in effect right now for Santa Monica Bay, a frequent occurrence that’s caused by polluted urban runoff triggered by rain. But once again, Barillas asked for extra caution.

Bacteria levels can remain elevated up to three days after a rain, depending on the volume of runoff. The three-day window has passed, she acknowledged, but she still said it was better to be safe than sorry.

“There have been several days now” since the county health advisory issued in the middle of last week, she said. “But the water got pretty polluted. That’s something to keep in mind.”

The recent series of storms marched across the Southland courtesy of El Nino, a series of weather conditions caused by warming of the equatorial waters of the Pacific, weakening rains in South Asia and bringing heavier rainfall to California.

The worst of El Nino in the Southland is expected in January, February and March. Some of said the storms will be among the worst ever unleashed here by El Nino.

Santa Monica and the rest of the Southland was expected to enjoy several sunny, warmish days in the early part of the week, although some forecasts there would be rain by the end of it. So far, experts do not believe El Nino will compensate for California’s five-year drought, however.