New WNW swells arrive later this week (decent conditions too!)

The North Pacific is at it again…except, compared to last week, it looks like we will get the surf without the bad weather.

The forecasts are showing a couple of decent back-to-back WNW swells that begin arriving later this week and hold into the weekend.



The first WNW’er (285-300) begins arriving on Thursday and peaks overnight into Friday (Jan 10-11th). A lot of the energy of this swell is coming in above the 290-degree mark which means that some areas will be shadowed, and quite a bit smaller, than the more exposed areas. On the average most “winter” spots will be around chest-shoulder high+. Standout NW breaks in San Diego, Ventura, and the South Bay will see overhead sets.

The second WNW swell (280-300) arrives on Saturday and will peak through into Sunday. This second round of swell will have a more open swell angle and should have a little more size and consistency for exposed breaks. Look for the average areas to see shoulder-head high sets while the standouts (again in SD, Ventura, and South LA) see sets going a couple of feet overhead.

Conditions are looking good for both swells…winds are expected to be variable through the mornings of the work week and then shift more Northerly (and stay around 10-knots) for the weekend.

It looks like these swells may be worth driving for...particularly if you are looking for bigger waves off the first swell. On swell #1 I would probably head to San Diego Friday morning. The swell will have filled in and most of the breaks from La Jolla southward should have some decent size.

A lot more spots will be open to swell #2...on that swell I don't think you are going to need to go very far to find waves...lots of winter spots will be working. SD, Ventura, and LA South Bay will be the biggest but you should be able to find decent head high+ surf at the top winter spots in the other areas as well.