Hurricane Rachel to send southern swell, erosion risk to Malibu Play

Hurricane Rachel is currently spinning about 950 miles south of Los Angeles, weakening to a Category 1 storm with wind speeds up to 85 miles an hour over the ocean, about halfway between Baja California and Hawaii.

It is moving away from North America, but the prediction is it will hook around and head back toward the midpoint of Baja California.

By that time it will be just a small hurricane, or maybe only a tropical depression. It could, however, send some light rain in Malibu's direction, arriving in about five days.

But the waves from Hurricane Rachel are expected to arrive late Tuesday, peaking in the 6-foot range later this week. High tides will be running this week at about 6.5 feet, occurring twice a day, both at around 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

These 6-foot waves could be on top of that, which would mean a little less erosion than what Hurricane Marie gave us a few weeks ago. But these waves will be coming from due south, and that could possibly cause more sand erosion in Malibu.

Looking ahead to Saturday, Malibu will get a long-period westerly swell from Super Typhoon Choi-Wan. That storm is currently churning off Japan with winds of 180 miles an hour.

These waves will be coming at us from due west, and that could cause additional erosion problems along the Malibu coast.

But the National Weather Service says there is still some uncertainty as to the exact impact of the super typhoon thousands of miles away. Those waves will arrive here Saturday night and Sunday.