Video Shows Waterfall Reverse Back Uphill in Freak Weather Event

A video showing a waterfall in California going uphill is circulating online.

The video was originally posted online by X, formerly Twitter, user Ryan Voutilainen. Taken on the Santa Cruz County coastline, the video shows a waterfall that appears to be going up instead of down the side of a cliff face as high winds blow the spray upward.

Voutilainen said in the caption accompanying the video that the waterfall is not usually there. "A quick look at those hills, shows you just why #California has landslide issues...steep, little vegetation, some burn scarred."

Reverse waterfalls are a rare weather phenomenon. They occur when high winds come off a body of water and hit a cliff, forcing the water to reverse its trajectory.

California has been drenched by a record-breaking amount of rain that fell over the weekend and on Monday. More than 10 inches of rain fell in some parts of the state, coupled with wind speeds of up to 102 miles per hour recorded by the National Weather Service, according to a report by Reuters.

While the extreme weather makes for spectacular phenomena like a reverse waterfall, Los Angeles has experienced its wettest two-day period since 1956, according to ABC News. Footage and images from the area show damaged buildings and cars, with debris swept across streets and roads.

Three people are confirmed to have died as a result of falling trees, ABC has reported. One man was rescued from fast flowing waters via a helicopter after he jumped in to save his dog from drowning.

While they might be rare, some reverse waterfalls have been spotted in the U.S. in recent years. Another was filmed in Kayenta, Utah in January 2023 by drone user and photographer RJ Hooper.

The video shows a narrow waterfall shooting upward over the top of a plateau against the backdrop of Utah's famous red ocher rock faces.

"Seriously the most incredible day for such unique conditions" he said in a post on Facebook. "In the last 20 years I can only remember a couple of time the waterfalls in Kayenta (Utah) flowed backwards! My drone struggled against the 60 mph wind over the cliff edge!"

Other reverse waterfalls have been documented around the world in recent years. A particularly impressive trio of reverse waterfalls was recorded in the Royal National Park in New South Wales, Australia, in August 2020. In the footage, water running off the side of the cliff is immediately blown back over the cliff top at three different points. Wind speeds of 46 mph were recorded in the area at the time.