What is a winter beach?

During a geology course, at some time in my education, I learned that the sand, and the topography of the beach, shifts with the seasons. Beach explanation (includes the seasonal change)  Over the many ages of my life, I have spent many hours on and around beaches from “small kid time” on Kauai to teen years at Mission Beach in San Diego to recent years of walking and spending time on Oahu and Oregon beaches. Over all these beach visits, I had not really been aware of the differences in the beaches during the seasons.

Winter beach / Ala Moana Beach Park / March 2016

Winter beach / Ala Moana Beach Park / March 2016

Since starting this blog, I recalled this seasonal beach information and did start to notice some changes. I have been trying to document this through photographs of three local beaches. 

The most significant observation of change is that the beaches get narrower. There is less space to spread your beach blanket and to run around. This was even evident to me at Ala Moana Beach Park.

Drop off to beach / Sunset Beach / March 2016

Steep beach / Sunset Beach / March 2016

Another characteristic of a winter beach I saw was that the beach is less spread out and is not as flat. The sand is pushed up, or carried away, causing a steeper beach. 

This is evident at Sunset Beach where the step down to the beach from the walkway drops off and the beach itself is steeper.

Steep beach / Sunset Beach / March 2016

Surf and narrow beach / Sunset Beach / January 2016

The steepness of the sand / beach is also visibly explained by the waves themselves which you see in the wintertime. The rougher and higher surf causes greater erosion of the sand. Sand erosion discussion by Dr. Beach

Sometimes the movement of the sand is so severe that it even creates “cliffs” of sand as is most evident at Kailua Beach at the extreme ends of the beach. Granted they are small, but they are still noticeable. Maybe the "cliffs" are permanent!  

“Cliffs” at south end / Kailua Beach / March 2016

“Cliffs” at north end / Kailua Beach / March 2016

I remembered hearing about the severe erosion experienced, and documented, at Kailua Beach. I guess some of the severe effects were resolved over time by nature itself and the removal of some of the root-exposed Ironwood trees. Ironwood trees at Kailua Beach The presence of the Ironwood trees probably caused greater erosion. I think the actual presence of those trees at all would be an example of man’s intervention interrupting the natural progress of a beach. [After a brief search, I could not find any information about the origin of the Ironwood trees at Kailua Beach. I definitely know the Ironwood tree is not a Hawaiian native plant.]

As a side note, during my observations of Kailua Beach, and after noticing mounds of sand near the stream mouth of Kailua Bay, I thought the beach was having sand imported in but sadly sometimes it is the reverse! Using Kailua Beach sand

Some further questions that occurred to me are:

Do all beaches change with the seasons?

Are there more high tides during wintertime?

So keep “watching out for nature” and watch for the winter beaches to change to summer beaches!