North winds along the northern California coast in the summer of 1982 were interrupted by six events with southerly winds. Four of these events occurred under similar circumstances. One of these four events is presented in detail. At the start of this event the marine layer is thickened in the southern California bight. A couple of days later the marine layer thickens from Point Conception to Montery. Then the marine layer thickness from Point Arena, where progression stopped and an eddy formed. In this surging stage, winds switched to southerlies as the leading edge of the event passed A day later, the leading edge surged further to the north. Inshore winds were southerly, and the lifted marine layer extended to Cape Blanco in Oregon. This event is interpreted as a gravity current surging up the coast. The basic reservoir is the thickened marine layer in the southern California bight. Northerly progression is interrupted by a blocking wave near Point Arena where an eddy forms. It is hypothesized that most of the major wind reversals along the northern California coast during the summer are gravity currents or Kelvin waves in the marine layer that are formed to the south. ¿American Geophysical Union 1987