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Comment by epaulson | Hacker News Reader

About two weeks I came across this tweet, from a PhD candidate just finishing up:

https://x.com/CharityWoodrum/status/1808313627864440930

"For Woody and Jayson Thomas. From the local universe to the first galaxies, the brightest moments in space and time occurred during our brief epoch together. That light is unquenchable."

She had gone back to school as an adult to study physics, she was just finishing up her undergrad when her husband and child were swept away by a wave while walking on the beach.

She kept on with school and is about to finish her Ph.D. I just can't comprehend how. https://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/ua-doctoral-candidate-in...

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For those like myself wondering how a regular wave could do this, the article says it was something colloquially termed a "sneaker wave." Like a rogue wave, but on the shoreline. It also sounds like they all got hit by the wave, and only Charity survived.

Edit: National Weather article on Sneaker Waves: https://www.weather.gov/safety/sneaker-waves

Apparently the cold water and other complications make things worse.

Thank you, never heard of this. It sounds terrifying.

> Sneaker waves appear suddenly on a coastline and without warning; generally, it is not obvious that they are larger than other waves until they break and suddenly surge up a beach. A sneaker wave can occur following a period of 10 to 20 minutes of gentle, lapping waves. Upon arriving, a sneaker wave can surge more than 150 feet (50 m) beyond the foam line, rushing up a beach with great force.

> The force of a sneaker wave's surge and the large volume of water rushing far up a beach is enough to suddenly submerge people thigh- or waist-deep, knock them off their feet, and drag them into the ocean

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sneaker_wave

The second one in this video [1].

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84EQv6_91dU

My god, just 2 or 3 seconds later and the person filming this would've been swept away for good.

Woah. That helps visualize it, thanks.

Very common on the west coast… I recommend having any kids playing on an ocean beach to wear a life jacket, and adults too unless they are, say, very experienced reading waves and swimming long distances in the ocean.

Someone is cutting onions

It's a terrible day for rain.

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