Where did the forecast go?

Hey guys…I know most of you already know where to find the forecasts now that they are over on Solspot.com…our new, much more powerful site.

But just in case some of you new visitors googled in…I wanted to make sure that you can find all of the new cool stuff. This blog isn’t updating the forecast anymore, all of that has been pushed over to the new site. Here are a few of the links that will hopefully help you find some waves (and hopefully good conditions too.)

For those of you that just wanted the forecast without any of the bells and whistles…The same ol’ Socal Forecast can be found here (this is the normal forecast for all of Southern California and generally gives you all the info you need to find surf for the next day)

http://surf.solspot.com/content/category/short-range-forecast

Here is the link to my long-range forecasts where you can find all the details you need to plan your surf sessions for the next several days, and some even longer range outlooks that can give you a heads up on incoming swells.

http://surf.solspot.com/content/category/long-range-forecast

Since the Southern California coastline is all jacked up (uh I mean unique)…we took the forecast and broke it down into a bunch of different “zones” that help to show how much swell, what sort of wind, and how the tides are going to affect the different regions.

Santa Barbara
Ventura
North LA
the South Bay
North Orange County
South Orange County
North San Diego
South San Diego

If that wasn’t enough we even put together a pretty comprehensive list of the surf breaks and beaches in each region. These aren’t surf reports, but they give very specific weather, wind, tides, water-quality, and a bunch of other cool stuff. When you first drop onto a spot page you will see “Current or Live” information, but if you click around you can find all kinds of cool stuff (like hour-by-hour wind forecasts going out for a full week…just the thing you need to plan a midday session if the winds lay down.) Check em out when you get a chance…

Santa Barbara County Spots
Gaviota State Beach
Arroyo Quemada
Refugio State Beach
El Capitan State Beach
Haskells Beach
Summerland Beach
Goleta Beach
Butterfly Beach
East Beach at Sycamore Creek
Hammonds Beach
Hope Ranch Beach
East Beach at Mission Creek
Sands at Coal Oil Point
Arroyo Burro Beach
Leadbetter Beach
Carpinteria City Beach
Carpinteria State Beach
Rincon Beach

Ventura County Spots
La Conchita Beach
Mussel Shoals Beach
Oil Piers Beach
Hobson County Park
Faria
Solimar Beach
Emma Wood State Beach
C-street
San Buenaventura Beach
Ventura Harbor South Jetty
Surfers Knoll
McGrath State Beach
Oxnard Beach Park
Hollywood by the Sea
Silverstrand
Port Hueneme Beach Park
Point Mugu Beach

North Los Angeles County Spots
County Line Beach
Leo Carrillo Beach
Will Rogers State Beach
Topanga State Beach
Malibu
Santa Monica Beach
Paradise Cove Pier
Zuma Beach




South Los Angeles County Spots
Venice City Beach
Dockweiler
El Porto
Manhattan Beach Pier
Hermosa Redondo Beach
Haggertys
Lunada Bay
Rancho Palos Verdes

North Orange County Spots
Seal Beach
Seal Beach Pier
Surfside Sunset Beach
Bolsa Chica State
Beach
Huntington Cliffs
Huntington City Beach
Huntington State Beach
Santa Ana River Mouth
Upper Jetties Newport
Beach
Newport Pier Blackies
15th Street Newport Beach
Wedge
Corona del Mar Beach
Laguna Beach Crescent Bay Beach
Laguna Beach
Aliso Creek Beach South Laguna

South Orange County Spots
Salt Creek Beach
Dana Point Harbor Baby Beach
Doheny Beach
Capistrano Beach
T Street San Clemente
San Clemente State Beach

North San Diego Spots
Church
Trestles
San Onofre State Beach
Old Mans San Onofre
Trails San Onofre
Oceanside Surfrider Way
Cassidy Street Oceanside
Tamarack Av Carlsbad
Ponto Carlsbad
Beacons Beach Leucadia
Moonlight Beach Encinitas
Swamis Beach Encinitas
Cardiff State Beach San Elijo
Seaside State Park
Del Mar San Dieguito River Beach


South San Diego Spots
Blacks Beach
La Jolla Shores
Windansea Beach
Pacific Beach Tourmaline
Mission Beach
Ocean Beach
Sunset Cliffs
Coronado Beach
Imperial Beach

Movember...where moustaches join the fight against cancer

Hey gang!

This Movember I’ve decided to donate my face to raising awareness about cancers that affect men. My commitment is the growth of a moustache for the entire month of Movember, which I know will generate conversation, controversy and laughter (really I am thinking that it will cause more laughter than anything).




I’m doing this because:

• 1 in 2 men will be diagnosed with cancer in his lifetime (those are crappy odds…this means everyone will be affected by it at some point in their lives.)

• 1 in 6 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime (I don’t want to do the math…but those aren’t good odds either)

This is a cause that I feel passionately about, for many reasons, and I’m asking you to support my efforts by making a donation to support the great work of the Prostate Cancer Foundation and LIVESTRONG. To help, you can either:

- Click this link http://us.movember.com/mospace/709344/ and donate online using your credit card or PayPal account

- Write a check payable to Movember, referencing my name or Registration Number 709344 and mailing it to: Movember, PO Box 2726, Venice, CA 90294-2726

The money raised will help make a tangible difference to the lives of others, through the world’s most promising prostate cancer research and LIVESTRONG’s programs that support young adults and their families battling and surviving cancer.

For more details on how the funds raised from previous campaigns have been used and the impact Movember is having please visit
http://us.movemberfoundation.com/research-and-programs/.

I know that times are tough, but I really want my boys to grow up in a world where we have stopped cancer in its tracks, so I greatly appreciate any support you can give…even words of encouragement (moustache growing is not my forte) will help.

Remember to keep checking my mospace page for my (likely sad yet hilarious) attempt at a moustache (why couldn't this have been a goatee contest? I would have totally won that) http://us.movember.com/mospace/709344/
Thanks again!

Adam

Adam Wright
Surf Forecaster and moustache grower
www.solspot.com

Monday’s Surf – Still surfable…but the winds are getting their funk on again

Monday looks rideable…even surfable if you are in the right place…but unstable morning winds, a high morning tide are going to hamper conditions for some spots.

In the water we are going to have a mix of slowly fading S-SSW swell (180-200) and increasing NW windswell.



Average S facing spots will be in the waist-chest high range with a few shoulder high sets at breaks with a little more combo exposure. The standout SSW-SW spots, mostly South OC and North SD, will be in the chest-shoulder high surf with some head high sets mixing in on the better part of the tide push.

Winds are where we run into issues…it doesn’t look totally blown out in the morning but there are a few pockets of onshore texture that are going to creep into the more exposed breaks. Expect variable/onshore texture, below 2-4 knots, for most spots with some stronger WNW-NW flow around 5-8 knots for Ventura and Southern San Diego. W winds around 10-15 knots will be on tap by the afternoon…with some stronger gusts at the real wind-prone spots.





Here check out the weather/wind forecasts for a few of the popular spots in Socal…you can see that there is a big difference in wind speeds as you move from region to region. Quick Note if you click this part of the wind forecast on each of these spot pages, you can see the forecasted winds for the next 7-days…a great planning tool if you only have small windows to surf.



Here are those spots…

Sands-at-coal-oil-point
C-street
Malibu
El Porto
Huntington Beach Pier
Salt Creek
T-street
Trestles
Swamis
Blacks
Imperial Beach

It looks like you are going to want to be on things pretty early…the tides and the onshore wind come on fast…so if you miss the first couple hours of daylight conditions are going to be a bit more frustrating. Oh it won’t be worth writing it totally off once the winds get going, you are just going to have to be a bit more selective in order to find cleaner breaks. Biggest waves will continue to show at the S-SW facing spots…expect smaller surf at spots that have some issues with shadowing from the nearshore islands.

Southern California Long Range Forecast 09/09/10

Finally the small slop is going to take a break…conditions are going to start cleaning up and a new S swell will start to arrive over the weekend. It won’t be much, but it will be an improvement over the last few days (or weeks depending on where you live). After this S swell fades a much stronger S-SW swell (180-210) starts to arrive later next week and it looks like plenty more on tap after it rolls through…maybe now Fall can actually start!

Get the full forecast here or navigate to it from www.solspot.com



You can also check out how the swell, wind, and tides, effects the different Southern California regions...(click on each one to get a sub-regional forecast...and if you click one of the "surf break" links, you can even get spot-specific winds and weather for each break)...Santa Barbara, Ventura, North LA, the South Bay, North Orange County, South Orange County, North San Diego, South San Diego.

Surf for Thursday - Revenge of the Fuglies

Thursday is not looking like much of a surf day.

We are going to see a mix of mostly leftover Southern Hemi S-SW swells (180-225) and some background NW windswell. The wind is what really looks funky…the various wind models are all over the place with the COAMPS calling for some rather strong looking onshores for the morning and the NWS/NOAA coming with lighter/more manageable winds. I have a feeling that it is going to vary a lot spot to spot…but just keep it in your mind that conditions can and will go funky in most areas as we move through the first few hours of the day.



Get the full forecast at http://www.solspot.com/

Here is the link...

Full Southern California Forecast

Surf for Tuesday – More Eddy lameness

Tuesday doesn’t look very surfable…most areas are going to have to deal with a mix of onshore texture from the eddy and a small, inconsistent S-SW swells and generally those things don’t work together very well. Get the full forecast over at www.solspot.com

Tuesday's Full Forecast

Southern California Long-Range Forecast 09/06/10

Holy weaksauce Batman! Most of this week is going to be weak and textured…the combo of eddy and small S-SW swells will keep the surf in the “marginal” range through Thursday. Fortunately the weather and the swell start to slowly improve on Friday and will continue to get better through the weekend. Long-range is looking A LOT BETTER thanks to a re-energized South Pacific and a series of SSW-SW swells that are heading our way for the middle of September (and if the following storms can live up to the forecast model we would likely see at minimum playful swell holding onto decent size almost to the end of the month). Make sure to go to www.solspot.com to read the full forecast

Southern California Long-Range Forecast 09/02/10

Guys...the long range forecast is up over at http://www.solspot.com/

you can go find it pretty easy on the homepage...or go directly to it here


http://surf.solspot.com/content/long-range-forecast/adam-wright/please-save-us-from-the-small-surf

Thursday’s Surf – Weak but rideable swell blend

Thursday will be surfable…but like the last couple of days you won’t be dealing with a ton of swell…just a combo of soft/weak S-SW swells and local NW energy.

In the water we are going to have a mix of S and SW swells (spread all over 180-220) as well as some background NW windswell…again nothing all that exciting, but still sometimes fun if your spot can combo the swells up properly.



Get the full forecast on www.solspot.com

http://surf.solspot.com/content/short-range-forecast/adam-wright/weak-but-rideable-swell-blend-hits-on-thursday

and you can even see what parts of the East Coast Hurricane Earl is deciding to destroy.



http://surf.solspot.com/content/featured/adam-wright/hurricane-warning-issued-for-category-4-hurricane-earl-as-he-approaches-the-east-coast

Waves for Wednesday - Small and Clean with a few nuggets still hiding out there

Waves for Wednesday - Small and Clean with a few nuggets still hiding out there

Wednesday will be a surf day…not a great surf day, not a big surf day…just sort of slow and fun, with sunny skies, and clean morning conditions.



Our swell will be a mix of overlapping S through SW swells (180-220) from a few small storms in the South Pacific. I am even seeing some long-period SW energy (220) on a few of the buoys from a storm way over by New Zealand that probably got chewed up passing through the SPAC island shadow. In the background there will also be a touch of local NW windswell that will keep the NW spots from going flat and a few bigger waves showing at the combo spots.

Get the sizes and weather over at the solspot.com site...you can also see how Hurricane Earl is going to try and mow down the Outer Banks.

here is the link straight into the forecast if you are feeling really lazy...

http://surf.solspot.com/content/solspot/adam-wright/small-and-clean-with-a-few-nuggets-still-hiding-out-there

but make sure to check out a bit more of the new site. We are working on revisions right now, and all of your feedback is super important...help us make you the most bitchen forecast site for the interweb!

Southern California Long-range Surf Forecast – 8/30/2010

The latest long-range surf forecast is up over at solspot.com...



Things look playful and clean for the next couple of days with weaker waves due by the end of the week.

Here is a link to the new forecast...

http://surf.solspot.com/content/long-range-forecast/adam-wright/weak-mix-of-small-southern-hemi-energy-and-local-windswell

My Name is (Hurricane) Earl gets ready to rip the East Coast a new one…

Now I don’t cover a ton of East Coast stuff…but occasionally there are some storms that are just too good to pass up. Hurricane Earl is one of them.



Right now Major Hurricane Earl (Category 4) is pushing just to the NE of Puerto Rico and is basically scaring the poop out of most of the Northern Caribbean.



His forecasted track over the next few days isn’t very reassuring either…



Get the rest of the update on www.solspot.com

http://surf.solspot.com/content/solspot/adam-wright/my-name-is-hurricane-earl-gets-ready-to-rip-the-east-coast-a-new-one%E2%80%A6

Surf for Monday – Early Morning Session

Monday looks surfable and fun for the morning…onshore winds push onshore around 9-10am…so you are going to want to surf early.



In the water we will have a mix of overlapping S-SW swells leftover from the weekend…and some new S swell (175-185). NW windswell holds in the background…but still won’t be generating a ton of surf.

Make sure to check Solspot.com for the full forecast...

http://surf.solspot.com/content/solspot/adam-wright/surf-for-monday-%E2%80%93-early-morning-session

Sunday’s Surf – A few fun ones in the morning

Sunday will be surfable in the morning…in fact the good S facing spots and the good combo breaks could be pretty fun as they mix with a rising, but not too fat tide, and light winds.



Swellwise we can expect a mix of dropping S-SSW swell (180-190), background SW energy (210-220), some steady NW windswell, a touch of new, but still small S swell (175-185 showing mostly long-period energy on the buoys). While this sounds like a lot of swell the surf won’t be all that big…but it does spread things out enough that most areas will have some sort of swell showing and the top combo breaks will be pretty fun.

Get the full forecast on Solspot.com

http://surf.solspot.com/content/solspot/adam-wright/sunday%E2%80%99s-surf-%E2%80%93-a-few-fun-ones-in-the-morning

Saturday’s Surf – Stupid Eddy

Saturday won’t be much of a surf day. So I will give you the full forecast today...but make sure to check out the cool wind forecasts we have up at www.solspot.com



The biggest issue is the return of the eddy…seriously it is almost September…this is getting ridiculous. Well ok now that I think about it really the eddy is the only issue we have on Saturday. There will still be some mixing S-SW swells (180-220) in the water…they will be fading…but with the right combo of tide and exposure they could be fun. All you need is protection from the stupid wind (and since I live a little ways down the street from a really exposed S facing beach I have almost zero protection from the S winds…so the eddy always twists the knife just a little harder. Stupid eddy…I bet dolphins built it).



Wave heights will be dipping down…but a few of the spots that had been shut down by lack-o-windswell will start to see a few new waves as more energy moves in from that direction. Average S facing spots will be in the waist-chest high range on the sets while the standout breaks see some shoulder high sets. There may be a bigger wave or two at the top spots, but expect size and consistency to back down through the day. NW facing spots start to see a bump up as local NW windswell increases pushing most spots into the knee-waist high range with a few waist high+ sets sneaking into the best areas.

The models…both the COAMPS and the NOAA/NWS are calling for the eddy in the morning. The COAMPS is a bit stronger with the center of the eddy up around Palos Verdes. The NWS guys have it positioned a bit more toward Catalina...and they have it starting off a little lighter. In general I am expecting a mix variable onshore winds for Ventura up through Santa Barbara…sort of a W-SW for SB, more S-SE toward Ventura. Then SE for LA county. OC and SD get the shaft with mostly S winds. All of this will be in the 3-5 knot range for the morning and then the winds will shift more W and push up into the 10-15 knot range at the most exposed areas.

Check out the live wind forecasts for a few sample spots (hint we have these for all of our surf spots)

Sands (Santa Barbara)
C-street (Ventura)
Malibu
El Porto
Huntington Beach
Trestles
Cardiff
Mission Beach

Your best bet is going to be the breaks that can block the wind and still pick up the S swell…there are a handful of spots throughout SoCal that can almost pull it off…but not that many. There will be more windswelly spots that have protection, but even though the surf is cleaner the surf will be smaller and weaker. It will be one of those compromise days…do you want clean smaller surf or junky bigger surf…the same pain in the butt choice that us Socal guys end up making too many times throughout the year. Oh and I would probably stick with the smaller wave boards, even at the top S facing spots…sets are getting pretty inconsistent and it will be nice to be able to pick off even the small ones.







Your best bet is going to be the breaks that can block the wind and still pick up the S swell…there are a handful of spots throughout SoCal that can almost pull it off…but not that many. There will be more windswelly spots that have protection, but even though the surf is cleaner the surf will be smaller and weaker. It will be one of those compromise days…do you want clean smaller surf or junky bigger surf…the same pain in the butt choice that us Socal guys end up making too many times throughout the year. Oh and I would probably stick with the smaller wave boards, even at the top S facing spots…sets are getting pretty inconsistent and it will be nice to be able to pick off even the small ones.

Southern California Long Range Surf Forecast 08/26/10

The surf will back down as we head into the weekend but another couple of pulses from the S and SW will keep the surf from dropping too fast. A little more windswell, and a touch of tropical swell from Hurricane Frank (the Tank), will help round things out. Overall expect smaller, but still potentially playful surf (if you bring the right gear, and attitude).

Short Range (next 4 days)

Friday – (More surf!…wow! who would have thought?)
The S swell (180-190) fades on Friday but still conjures up some decent sized surf at the standout breaks. The average spots back more into the waist-chest high range with some shoulder high sets still showing at times. The standout S facing beaches and the top combo spots, still mostly in the OC, see some shoulder-head high surf with some occasionally bigger sets showing at the best breaks on the lower tides. Winds/Weather: Winds are still looking a bit funky for Friday…clean(er) in the morning but unstable with onshore flow coming up pretty early. I wouldn’t wait too long to surf on Friday. It looks like onshore flow starting to push up the sea breeze around 10am…and then stronger onshore flow tapping out around 10-15 knots by late in the afternoon

Check out how the swell, wind, and tides, affects the different Southern California regions...(click on each one to get a sub-regional forecast...and if you click one of the "surf break" links, you can even get spot-specific winds and weather for each break)...Santa Barbara, Ventura, North LA, the South Bay, North Orange County, South Orange County, North San Diego, South San Diego.




Still just teasing....get the full forecast (and more frank the tank) at www.solspot.com

http://surf.solspot.com/content/solspot/adam-wright/waves-and-a-little-wind-hold-into-the-weekend-smaller-surf-on-tap-next-week

Tropical Alert – Frank upgraded to Hurricane Strength

Frank made the Jump to Hurricane Strength today…and even moved into the Baja Sur swell window (well for Cabo and the East Cape at least) as he intensified today.



The current forecasts have him intensifying a bit more as he tracks more WNW over the next couple of days…with the potential for him to reach Socal’s SE swell window on Friday.

Get more details on the big site...

http://surf.solspot.com/content/solspot/adam-wright/tropical-alert-%E2%80%93-frank-upgraded-to-hurricane-strength

Thursday’s Surf – S swell continues with the wind trying to screw things up

Thursday will be another surf day.

The S swell that peaked on Wednesday will be slowly losing some steam on Thursday but a new SW swell (200-220) and background WNW-NW windswell will help to keep the surf size from dropping too fast. Winds will get on things fast again…so try to surf as early as you can…onshore W-WNW breeze looks like it will be dropping the elbow around midmorning/lunchtime.



make sure to get the rest of the forecast on http://www.solspot.com/

here is the link straight into the forecast for all you guys in a hurry...stick around and read something will you!

http://surf.solspot.com/content/solspot/adam-wright/thursday%E2%80%99s-surf-%E2%80%93-s-swell-continues-with-the-wind-trying-to-screw-things-up

Waves for Wednesday - Now with more S-swell

Wednesday will be a surf morning…but winds aren’t looking quite as friendly as they have been the last couple of days. It still looks clean in the morning…but a general onshore chunkiness starts to pick up midmorning and may hamper the shape at the more exposed spots.

The new S swell is filling in more this evening…you can see it on our buoy pages…check out the dominate swell periods in the very far right column.



For those of you buoy-nerds out there….you can see the live version of this page here…

http://surf.solspot.com/activity/surf/buoy/region.php?id=1

This new S swell will continue to build overnight and will mix with the combo of leftover S-SW swell and windswell as we head into Wednesday.

Make sure to read the full forecast here...

http://surf.solspot.com/content/solspot/adam-wright/waves-for-wednesday-now-with-more-s-swell

Southern California Long Range Surf Forecast 08/23/10

There will be a solid run of S and SW swell showing this week with good sized surf holding through Tuesday and into early Wednesday. The swell does eventually back down but expect plenty of rideable waves and mostly good conditions to hold through week and on into the weekend.

Short Range (next 4 days)

Tuesday – (Another S-swell comes in off the top ropes)
New S swell (180-190) peaks on Tuesday as it mixes with a bunch of leftover energy from the weekend and some building local windswell. Most S facing spots will be in the chest-shoulder high range with some head high sets mixing in on the lower tides. The standout S facing spots, mostly in Orange County (and a few other top summer breaks), will be in the shoulder-head high+ range with some sets going overhead to even a couple of feet overhead on those lower tides. It looks like there is enough windswell to keep some semi-corners at the beach breaks…but definitely count on the points and reefs to have the best shape. Winds/Weather: Winds look clean for the morning…mostly light/variable to light/offshore early…then building onshore flow by the afternoon.

Check out how the swell, wind, and tides, affects the different Southern California regions...(click on each one to get a sub-regional forecast...and if you click one of the "surf break" links, you can even get spot-specific winds and weather for each break)...Santa Barbara, Ventura, North LA, the South Bay, North Orange County, South Orange County, North San Diego, South San Diego.



This is still just the teaser...make sure to head on over to www.solspot.com to get the full long-range forecast.

Monday’s Waves – South Swell is a good way to start the week.

Monday will be a surf day.

More S-SSW swell (180-200) moves in and mixes with the already healthy shot of S-SW swell that we had hit over the weekend. The new S-SSW’er will still be showing mostly long-period energy in the morning, which if it had been the only swell in the water would have made for some long waits and funky exposure as the swell bent/refracted around things. As it is…the other swells are more in the medium-period range, which will really flesh out the surf. We can expect the S facing spots to see a steady stream of S-swell lines as we move throughout the day and things should even get a touch bigger at the end of the day as the new S-SSW swell fills in more.

Get the full forecast here...trust me it will feel so natural in a couple more weeks.

http://surf.solspot.com/content/solspot/adam-wright/monday%E2%80%99s-waves-%E2%80%93-south-swell-is-a-good-way-to-start-the-week

Surf for Sunday – Now with more S-SW swell

Sunday looks like a surf morning…but unstable winds, ones that turn onshore pretty early, keep things from being a solid surf day.

We will have more S-SW swell energy (180-220) from a couple of different swells, some that are just peaking, some that are fading out from last week, and some long-period energy from a new pulse moving out of the Southern Hemi. The winds, while they suck for conditions (and water temps) they are starting to build up a little windswell for the exposed combo spots. I don’t think they will have enough juice to break up the bigger S swell, but there may be a few more creases out there at the well exposed breaks.

...I know the teasers suck...I promise they will stop...someday.

Here is the link straight into the proper forecast.

http://surf.solspot.com/content/solspot/adam-wright/surf-for-sunday-%E2%80%93-now-with-more-s-sw-swell

It has unicorns in it...you know you want to see a unicorn.

Surf for Saturday - I heart waves

Saturday is looking like a surf day.

More S-SSW swell (190-210) fills in on top of an already decent looking pulse. (At least it looked pretty decent at the stretch of beach my 5 year old was bodyboarding at…while I was wistfully thinking about my 6’6” Stamps and wetsuit sitting in the garage.) The surf at S facing spots and the good combo spots will continue to build in size as even more S swell jumps into the dog-pile and even the windswell (steep NW windswell 290-300) builds up a little as winds in the outer waters increase.

I know you guys hate the teasers but read the full forecast over at www.solspot.com

Southern California Long-range Surf Forecast – 8/19/2010

Adam’s Long-Range Forecast - New swell cometh! (And maybe, just maybe, if we are really good he will bring a combo present along for the ride).

Short Range (next 4 days) sorry gang...you have to read the full forecast on www.solspot.com but I will give you Friday for a teaser.

Friday – (a little more size building in)
Wave heights will be on the way up on Friday as a new mix of S-SW swells start to strengthen…none of them are huge…but they are coming in from decent directions (175-215) and the blend of energy should add some consistency that we haven’t had over the last few days. Look for average S facing spots to be in the waist-chest high range. Standout S-SW breaks and good combo spots see some chest-shoulder high surf (and I wouldn’t even be surprised to see a bigger wave now and then on the lower tides). Winds/Weather: Overcast and slightly eddyish in the morning…look for light and variable winds for most areas with a touch of onshore S-SW winds at the really exposed spots. Overall it should be clean, but watch for areas of onshore texture at spots sensitive to the southerly winds.


you have to read the full forecast on www.solspot.com

Surf for Thursday – A little bigger

Thursday will be rideable…maybe even sort of fun/surfable if you can hit a SW facing spots early enough in the morning, before the tide tries to kill it.

In the water we are going to have a mix of the seeming never-ending S-SW blend (180-220 that is always there but never big enough to do much from keeping it flat). However there will be a stronger SW swell (200-220) moving in throughout the day, likely peaking in the afternoon, while it mixes with the S-SW leftovers and weak local windswell.



Remember gang...these are just teasers (think of it as the strip-clubs of surf forecast sites!). Make sure to check www.solspot.com for the complete forecasts.

Waves for Wednesday - Get on it early

Wednesday is looking surfable but a combo of a windswell and building leftover S swell might be a good call in the low tide sand.

Swellwise there will be a couple of new S and SW swells trying to filter into Socal. The surf will be about the same sizewise but the swell will be a little more consistent and a have a little more pizazz (you have to say it with Jazz Hands) than what we had on Tuesday



Get wave heights and weather from the new www.solspot.com \website...

Monday’s Surf – more waiting around but with a few sneaky fun ones lurking around

Personally I don’t think Monday will be much of a surf day…I like a little more juice and consistency to my swell mix...but that is more personal preference than anything. If you don’t mind riding the small-wave boards of mind talking a little story in the line-up between sets then Monday won’t be a total right off.

There will plenty of different swells in the water but non that really standout. There will the small but seemingly ever-present S-SW swell mix from the Southern hemi, there will be a touch of local windswell and the forecast models are calling for a little tropical style energy…but I think they have been hitting the booze a little hard this weekend.



Make sure to head over to www.socalsurf.com for the full forecast, all the forecast details, as well as the automated swell data from WavewatchIII.

Adam’s Long-Range Forecast - Small Southern Hemi mix and tiny windswell combo up as we head into the weekend.

Adam’s Long-Range Forecast - Small Southern Hemi mix and tiny windswell combo up as we head into the weekend. New S-SW swells start to increase size and consistency next week and we can expect some decent sized waves finally arriving by the following weekend…and likely holding almost all the way through the end of August. Oh and it is Friday the 13th today...so take things a little easy and see if you can dodge the bad-luck-dolphin.



Short Range (next 4 days)

Friday (the 13th…watch out for those dolphins)
A mix of overlapping S-SW swells (180-220) and some minor windswell will be on tap throughout Friday. The swell mix actually gets a little bit of a reinforcement, but it is on the tailing.....read the full forecast

http://surf.solspot.com/

Thursday's Surf - Still a few little ones but mostly summer smallness continues

Thursday will be semi-surfable…if you have a good S facing spot, get it early enough to avoid the high tide, and bring a big board.



Our surf will be a mix of small, overlapping, S-SW swells (180-220) from a couple of barely stormy storms that tip-toed through the South Pacific. There will also be some windswell in the water, but it might also just be from a boat passing by…since it will have about the same effect.

Of course this is just a teaser…make sure to get the full forecast over on the new site www.solspot.com (it is pretty easy to find on the homepage).


Oh and check out Chuck Patterson getting circled by Great Whites down by San Onofre…I think the line for getting into the Old Man’s Parking lot will be a lot shorter this weekend.

http://surf.solspot.com/content/surf-articles/cso/great-white-shark-off-san-onofre

How the Hell Does This Work - The 5-day Summary

Since Solspot.com has a lot more crapola going on compared to my old simple Socalsurf blog I thought I would walk you through some of the new tools…just to show you how they might help you score a few more waves.

One of the first things that we put together was the 5-day forecast summary…



What is funny is that the 5-day was actually made because I don’t want to write a million forecast s. It is basically a way to break down the full Southern California forecast into the different regions.

Here is a link where you can play along too…

http://surf.solspot.com/activity/surf/sub-region/index.php?id=3



The first thing to notice is that each of the 5-day summaries are tied to the different Southern California Surf Zones...the one we are looking at on this page is for South Orange County. Unfortunately right now…because it is summer, and there is barely anything going on, the forecast summaries look like a lot of copy and pasting (which they are)…but rest assured, as conditions change and we see some real swell, each of these will be able to show the differences in how the swell will affect each spot



Each of these 5-days are interactive…as you guys know there is a lot of crap (like the planets aligning, dogs and cats living together…that sort of thing) that has to all come together just right for us to get good surf…and we have tried to put it all in the same place. Unfortunately if you try to show it all at the same time your computer just explodes…sort of like that dudes head in Scanners.

So we hid some of the more detail heavy stuff in tabs that are associated with the day. So like you can see in the above image…if you clicked on Wednesday this circle thing forms and starts spearing the content in the other parts of the 5-day (Wednesday is an angry day for some reason)….no, there is no circle (my developers wouldn’t let me have that), instead it just gives you a cleaner summary of the swell mix, some more detailed weather, and the tides for the day, which if you pay attention…you can see that the “low” tide boxes will turn red if it is a negative tide. (and green in case of unicorns…don’t expect to see that one often).



If you are just looking at a single day you can actually tell a lot…without getting into the tab portion. First off, you will notice that the day itself is color coded. The color is actually tied to the Shape/Surfiness (which a real human forecaster picks)…and the spectrum is about 4-5 colors…red being a bad surf day and green being the best. I imagine that once we get this going at some spot like Jefferies Bay for example, it will be bright green all the time (we will probably just give it a whole different color)…since we are in Socal summer between swells…plan on seeing a lot of mustards and lime days.

Moving down the content…you hit “SIZE” which as a forecaster I try to use this tool to describe the average spots…the whole knee-thigh high is really for the average breaks…the “occasional” set size is usually for the top breaks in the areas.

From there we get to SHAPE/SURFINESS…I have a lot of different terms that can drop into this little box…but it is still good to remember that I am trying to give a summary of a fairly big region…and so some spots may be better than the average and some will be worse…this will be a perfect example of when your “surf and ocean experience/knowledge” helps you use the forecast tools to read between the lines, so to speak.



As we move to the last two sections…the weather and the wind…these are automated sections that are pulling wind and weather from a fixed point in this particular Surf Zone…you can actually get a much more accurate wind and weather forecast by clicking through to an individual spot. I will go into those later…but there is some awesome stuff buried in those pages that if you like surfing, will make bookmarking a few of your favorite spots (or playing with the interactive maps) a good thing to do.



The Weather is pretty explanatory…it gives you high and low temps with a little weather icon that defines what the NWS/NOAA forecasts are calling for the region.

The WINDS: thing is pretty cool…and a cause for an internal discussion between a couple of us here at Solspot. Right now we have the winds set up in a way that if you mouse over the arrow it will give you the wind and direction for the time period of the day. You can see, on the example, that I moused over Wednesday morning and got the 7am wind forecast…which is “1-mph from the WSW” which isn’t much.

Now here (as a user) I think this is the perfect place to help us dial in the product. Right now we have arrows for every direction (well the 16 major ones) and they come in 3 colors. Red is a bad direction, Yellow equals marginal, and Green is a good direction. I went through and helped to match up the winds for each of the Zones so that if you were looking at the South Bay (for example) you wouldn’t get a red or yellow arrow on S winds, like you would for instance in Orange County (stupid eddy…hate you).

Now my programmer thinks that is all we need…he will say things like, ”Hey the wind arrow is yellow…they will mouse over it and get the data and if it marginally good (vs marginally bad) you guys could make the call.”

I am arguing for more color arrows…some that help to visually describe the whole (sort of bad, sort of good, but not great) type of ambiguity that we as surfers always seem to run across. I want like 5 colors that can give a good, quick, assessment of the wind conditions and can include the sort of good, sort of bad, lines of thought. The arrows would change based on both the direction and speed…and so in some cases you might have an arrow pointing onshore but the color would be green or close to it because wind speeds are below 2 knots.



This image is a perfect example of my side of the discussion. In just looking at the chart for tomorrow…I see red (bad) arrows all the way across the day. But if I mouse over the morning ones I see that the winds are basically light and variable with just a touch of onshore texture, which for me isn’t enough to wave me off checking the surf in the morning. Granted you guys have my forecasts, all of the NWS/NOAA, weather bug, resources that are available beyond just this little 5-day tool so you should be able to still find some waves no matter what a bunch of negative arrows are telling you (just remember to mouse over them until I win the Greco Roman Wrestling match…uh I mean discussion…which is how we solve things at www.solspot.com)


Or you guys could also comment on the article and let us know what you think the better solution would be.

Anyways…that is the first edition of How the Hell does this work…there will be many more coming down the pipes.

Waves for Wednesday – Someone needs to push the reset button…the disk seems to be stuck

Wednesday looks semi-surfable…but there isn’t a lot of swell in the water…so expect to ride a big board and sit around a lot waiting for weak waves.

Our swell mix is a blend of S-SW swells (180-220) and weak local windswell. Most of it barely rideable if it was by itself…but it has just enough energy that when the swell mixes we get a semi-rideable little line.



Make sure to read the rest of the forecast at www.solspot.com (you are going to have to navigate to it yourself this time…I bet you can find it pretty easy).

Southern California Long Range Surf Forecast 08/09/10

Adam’s Long-Range Forecast - The hodgepodge of overlapping S-SW swells and weak local windswell will continue to push through this week, sending in mostly small surf that is even more tide (and wind) sensitive than usual. Fortunately there are a few windows for waves and morning winds seem pretty manageable for the next few days. Looks like a good week to break out the small-wave boards and vintage death-logs.



To get the whole forecast head on over to www.solspot.com

or go straight to the forecast here

Adam's Long Range Surf Forecast