Friday, March 20, 2009

Waves for the Weekend – a little bi-polar

We get a bit of a split decision this weekend...Saturday will be surfable but Sunday is looking pretty craptacular (stormy).

On Saturday we are going to see a mix of fading S swell, NW energy (290-300), and some local WNW windswell. Average breaks will be in the knee-waist high+ range while the top combo spots, mostly through OC and San Diego (mostly SD) will have some chest-shoulder high sets on the lower tides. Saturday’s swell will look a lot like what we have this afternoon.



Saturday’s weather will be ok...sort of eddy-like in the morning. Overcast with light/variable winds, chilly, with some light texture at the most exposed beaches. NW winds build in through the afternoon and top out around 10-15 knots.

Sunday looks a lot like poo. We will have building local NW windswell but shape is going to be pretty torn up. The NWS is calling for gale warnings throughout SoCal and all of the models are showing a lot of onshore flow. Check out the COAMPS model for Sunday morning (this is before the wind really gets going).



Needless to say that even though wave heights are increasing the onshore wind is going to really tear it up. It basically looks almost unsurfable on Sunday. Hopefully this front won’t be as nasty as the forecasts are calling for (we still have a couple of days for it to fall apart) but at this point I wouldn’t hold your breath. Basically we can expect W winds around 20-25+ knots for the morning with some possible 25-35 knot gusts by the afternoon.

Our best bet for surf is probably going to be midmorning on Saturday (at those better combo spots)...there will still be some fun size and the winds should still be ok as the tide drops. Sunday looks like a good day to catch up on your sleep, chores, basketball watching...

Here are the tides...have a good one!

Saturday
12:54AM LDT 2.3 L
06:32AM LDT 4.3 H
01:46PM LDT 0.0 L
08:12PM LDT 3.6 H

Sunday
01:31AM LDT 1.9 L
07:15AM LDT 4.6 H
02:12PM LDT -0.1 L
08:27PM LDT 3.9 H

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I went out to HB at 12:30P, and there were some good sets, just spaced out a bit. I think I waited 5 minutes between waves. I'd suggest to soak up the sun (through the overcast) before the rains come!

Anonymous said...

i've been reading up on the weather for tomorrow, and was wondering if you think we might get a dawn patrol session in? the reason i'm asking for your thoughts is because the winds seem like they might be manageable until around 11am tomorrow, and that's when the rain is supposed to start also (according to local weather reports for tomorrow).

Anonymous said...

got my share of 3-4 foot windswell in south bay, san diego this sunday morning. got on it super early and there was almost no wind. some corners were muy bueno, but overall shape was sloppy. wind kicked up about 9am and you could literally see the clouds coming from the north.

Anonymous said...

So Cal surf desperado blog...