Weird problems with Safari: search bar and tabs
I had exactly the same (but on Yosemite), and found this (https://discussions.apple.com/message/29693684#29693684) resolved it.
Uncheck Use Safari Suggestions
in the Search
tab in Safari Preferences.
Certainly not a solution to the problem, but gets around it until more concrete information comes out..
I had the same issue since this morning, I guess it could be something "malfunctioned" or badly processed data arriving from Google suggestions:
Got rid of it by going to: Safari -> Preferences -> Search
Here everything was ticked, I unticked all, then reticked "Include search engine suggestions" only, the problem stopped.
Edit: Safari suggestions was the problem, not google, sorry, ticking back everything else and it works, ticking back Safari suggestions and it dies.