Avila Beach, CA Coastal Erosion Rate
What USGS measures 1.7 miles south of Avila Beach, CA
USGS's shoreline-change data puts this stretch, 1.7 miles south of Avila Beach, CA, at 0.36 feet of erosion a year on average, a long-term rate for this specific ~3.5-mile section, not one storm's damage. At that rate, the shoreline has lost roughly 3.6 feet over the last decade.
What "Avila Beach" means on this page
USGS surveys the coast in transects spaced a few hundred feet apart; this page groups the nearest ones into a single ~3.5-mile reading for the stretch closest to Avila Beach, CA, rather than showing one arbitrary line. Segment center: 35.18, -120.71. The survey behind it runs to 1852-2016, in USGS's California assessment, using the LRR method. Shoreline surveys aren't repeated every year, so this is the most recent long-term measurement USGS has published for this coast, not a live reading.
What 0.36 ft/yr means over time
Run 1.7 miles south of Avila Beach, CA's 0.36 ft/yr rate forward 25 years and it implies about 9 feet of further retreat, assuming nothing changes, which is exactly the assumption a seawall or nourishment project exists to break.
Where this fits nationally
This reading comes from 8 individual transects averaged together, 100% of which measured erosion rather than growth. The published margin on this reading runs ±0.2 ft/yr. Sorted from fastest erosion to fastest growth across all 1211 measured segments nationally, this one lands at 370. Source: USGS National Shoreline Change data release (ScienceBase, DOI 10.5066/P94J0K7Z), Kratzmann 2024 / Data Report 1187. For scale: Colma, CA, 197 miles away, ranks 304 of 1211 nationally for erosion, 0.48 ft/yr, 1.3x this stretch's rate. Avila Beach, CA, 1.5 miles off, is the adjacent measured stretch, itself no significant trend.
Avila Beach, CA on the source map: try the Coastal Change Hazards Portal, zoomable well past this page's ~3.5-mile grain.