Friday, January 22, 2010

Waves for the Weekend – Split decision

Saturday doesn’t look like much of a surf day (but there may be a little window in the morning)…Sunday on the other hand could be fun…that is if you don’t mind surfing with a bunch of extra brown-trout in the line-up.

(I know I have been harping on water quality…but it is really nasty out there…check out these shots of the main OC river mouths http://beach.freedomblogging.com/2010/01/22/beaches-get-trashed-after-storm/20617/ Make sure to read the first comment on this post...it is outstanding)

So the storm will finally start to break down and start moving out of the area late tonight. Unfortunately this is a pretty large storm (in every way) and it will take a while to clear out completely, which means that we aren’t going to see a significant improvement for Saturday morning. With storms like these we generally get S winds as the storm arrives and then NW winds that follow behind the front...those NW winds are what we have in the forecast for Saturday.

We will continue to see a pretty solid chunk of W-WNW swell on Saturday…the energy that hit on Friday will hold overnight and start to slowly fade as we move throughout the day.



Sizewise I am still expecting most areas to see consistent head high and overhead surf. The top WNW-NW facing spots, particularly in San Diego, the South Bay, and parts of Ventura, will have some consistent overhead to well overhead surf…with a chance of bigger waves mixing it up at times.

The overall pattern for Saturday is calling for NW winds around 10-15 knots to be on tap across Socal starting mid-morning, and likely hold through the afternoon as well. There is one thing a little interesting on the COAMPS model though…it is showing mostly NW flow for the morning but if you look right at the coastline it has the winds staying pretty light. Not sure how much I would count on the model (the computer might just have gas or something)…but you might want to give conditions a quick check in the morning to see how things shake out overnight.



Sunday the W-WNW swell will drop and the winds/weather will improve.



Expect the average W facing beaches to drop down to shoulder-head high sizes with a few overhead sets still mixing in. Standout WNW-NW facing spots see some head high and overhead surf pretty consistently…with a few sets still going a couple feet overhead on the better tides.

Winds look a lot better…mostly light and variable to light offshore for the morning and then staying light through the afternoon. Partly cloudy skies and warmer air temps will be on tap as well.



Sunday is definitely looking the best day for surf this weekend…it won’t have the size Saturday has but conditions look a lot better. I would still be a little cautious about water quality, most of the health agencies recommend avoiding ocean contact for at least 72 hours after the rain as stopped…so if you get sick easy you might want to hold off a couple more days.

Regional/County Forecasts

Santa Barbara Surf Forecast
Ventura County Surf Forecast
Los Angeles County Surf Forecast
Orange County Surf Forecast
San Diego Surf Forecast


Here are the tides…have a good weekend!

01/23/2010 Saturday
02:05AM LST 4.4 H
10:13AM LST 1.2 L
04:13PM LST 2.3 H
07:30PM LST 2.1 L

01/24/2010 Sunday
03:09AM LST 4.7 H
11:28AM LST 0.7 L
06:17PM LST 2.6 H
09:08PM LST 2.4 L

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

o just its gunna be doh-toh at top spots tomorrow already who cares about the water

Anonymous said...

just want to point out that there was a sewage spill in la jolla yesterday.

from La Jolla Light
An estimated 5,025 gallon sewage spill occurred today from a manhole at 6241 Waverly Ave in La Jolla. The cause of the spill is blockage from roots.

The spill started 1:23 PM and ended at 2:30 PM today when crews from the City of San Diego Wastewater cleared the blockage. All the 5,025 gallons of the sewage flowed into a storm drain that leads to the Pacific Ocean at La Canada Street.

Signs warning of sewage contamination are posted at all beach-lines access points from Kolmar Street at La Jolla Strand Park south to Sea Ridge Drive at Pacific Beach Point and will remain in place until samples confirm the water is safe for recreational use.

For updates on beach closure information please call the 24-hr. hotline at (619) 338-2073
or go to www.sdbeachinfo.com

Anonymous said...

today(sat) was fun and all to bad size dropped so much
friday was king of winter

Anonymous said...

Surfing? Who wants to go out in that muck? OTOH, the snow was insane.

Crowds were bad, but to a surfer, it's a piece of cake compared to what we deal with on a regular basis.

Anonymous said...

I took a look at those pics. As I posted a few days ago, I walked my dog along the Santa Ana river path during the storm. There is no way I'd go out anywhere near the outflow.

It's one thing to get sort of sick/poisoned as people frequently do at Malibu & El Porto. It's another to get hepatitis - it can stay in your liver for **life**.

Anonymous said...

i'm risking the hep tomorrow. i need water contact!!!