Hurricane Marie's swell turned Newport Beach into what one surf publication called a "barrel-filled playground" over Labor Day weekend, producing waves that drew comparisons to Hawaii's Pipeline.

The Inertia reported Monday, Sept. 7, that Newport's "hurricane-swell-loving point lit up" as Marie pushed south swell into the coast. The site said conditions capped off an already historic summer of swell.

The waves also kept lifeguards busy. As we reported Monday, Newport Beach lifeguards carried out 177 ocean rescues on Saturday, Sept. 5. Adam Yacenda, lifeguard battalion chief for the Newport Beach Fire Department, told the Associated Press on Sept. 6 that the department was in "red-flag conditions from one end of our beach to the other."

"Any time you're approaching over 100, that's a busy day," Yacenda said.

National Weather Service meteorologist Rose Schoenfeld said Sept. 6 that Marie stirred "life-threatening" conditions, with some south-facing beaches seeing surf up to 10 feet.

Newport Beach Lifeguard Chief Brian O'Rourke had warned before the weekend that conditions would be dangerous. He told the Orange County Register on Sept. 3 that only "really good or advanced-to-expert, professional-level surfers, bodysurfers or bodyboarders" should enter the water.

The numbers backed him up. Newport Beach lifeguards had already logged more than 4,000 rescues by early September, surpassing the typical full-season average of 3,000. The weekend before Labor Day alone brought 425 ocean rescues and 6,500 preventive actions.

For longtime surf watchers, the Marie swell echoed 2014, when a hurricane of the same name produced what Fox Weather called "picture-perfect, pumping surf." That storm is still widely considered the benchmark for hurricane-generated swell in California.

Marie did not make landfall. The hurricane weakened as it churned hundreds of miles off the Pacific coast but still pushed rain into parts of Los Angeles County and caused coastal flooding across Southern California.

A high surf advisory for the Newport Beach coast remains in effect through 11 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 8.