People enjoying beachtime in Guerrero and Sonora were startled on the weekend when an unusually low tide saw the water retreat as much as 30 meters in the span of half an hour.

Visitors at the San Carlos and Miramar beaches in Guaymas and at the Empalme and Bahía de Kino beaches in Hermosillo, Sonora, witnessed the exceptionally low tide, posting videos of the phenomenon on social networks.

Local fishermen told the newspaper El Universal that the tides have been very low in recent days, but Saturday’s was unusually so.

A similar event was reported in Acapulco, where workers at restaurants at Las Hamacas beach told the newspaper El Sol de México that while low tides are a common phenomenon at the end of the rainy season, Saturday’s event was one of the lowest in memory.

Fear of a tsunami spread in both states, but authorities said the extraordinarily low tide was caused by an anticyclone system located off the coast of California, and people living near the coast were not at risk.

By early Sunday morning, the sea had recovered its usual level, with no infrastructure damages to report.

Source: El Universal (sp), El Sol de México (sp)