Thursday, July 8, 2010

Frigid Friday – oh look more onshore wind and fading S swell…my favorite.

Friday is not looking very fun…it will be semi-rideable in a few areas but overall between the fading swell and the onshore wind there won’t be many reasons to paddle out.

Swellwise we are going to see leftover S swell (175-185) and some minor local windswell. The S swell will continue to fade through the day so expect smaller and less consistent surf by the afternoon.



Average S-facing spots can expect knee-waist high surf on Friday with a few rare plus sets showing on the lower tides. The standout S facing spots, mostly through Orange County, will have knee-chest high surf with some chest-shoulder high faces slipping through on the largest sets. Again, expect the bigger waves to trail off as we head into the afternoon.

Friday’s winds look pretty lame…there will be some variable onshore flow showing through SB down through the South Bay…mostly below 5 knots but with some 5-7 knot pockets in the more exposed areas. Orange County and down through San Diego will have W-WNW winds around 5-8 knots for the morning…basically staying that way overnight and then re-strengthening as we head into mid-morning. Look for all areas to have 10-15+ W-WNW winds by the afternoon.







The swell is dropping, the winds are going to be funky, and we are going to be fighting through a mid-morning high tide…man all of those sound like good reasons not to go to the beach. Personally I am going to give the surf a quick check in the morning, make sure the wind didn’t lay down overnight, and then I will probably go back to bed. If you have to surf…and I mean “HAVE” to surf…bring your small wave gear, a really open mind, and try to stick to spots that offer up some sort of wind protection.

Here are the tides…

07/09/2010 Friday
02:45AM LDT -0.7 L
09:13AM LDT 3.5 H
01:32PM LDT 2.3 L
07:48PM LDT 6.3 H

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe if we all get together and try real hard we can wish el nino away.

SC Fool said...

I guess we can call it a mountain biking weekend.

Anonymous said...

Hey thats a good idea actually.
I wonder where this summer stands in the ''coldest summers ever'' category

HBD said...

Funny how we wern't complaining about El Nino last winter...a blessing and a curse!

Anonymous said...

2 months (jan-feb) of above average swell production (minus the stormy unsurfable days) in exchange for 6 months and counting of bad miserable beach weather. hmm i think im looking forward to la nina next year, and am hopeing el nino keeps away for a very long time.

Anonymous said...

granted, post winter has sucked a hard one. but winter was better and longer than "2 months" of "above average swell production". this past winter was INSANE!!!

Anonymous said...

this weather is awesome for crowd control

about 3 guys at old man's at san o this afternoon!!! YEE HAW


I LOVE IT I LOVE IT

Secret Spotter said...

Too bad Anon @ 10:18 PM wasn't watching Jason's videos. ;-)

Anonymous said...

It's incredible - I'm looking out my window and the gray skies look like winter - complete with a nice stiff breeze.

@Anon 8:34 - Adam posted a NWS message yesterday confirming that the max day high set a record low (66) for all of July.

Btw, it's HB jr guard picture day this am, so imagine over a thousand kids down at the beach all freezing their butts off. (My kid is in the afternoon session, but everyone goes in the am for picture day.)

Btw, I had a brief chat with one of the NB senior guards yesterday, and he mentioned he also got a chance to surf SoCal's best point break(s) Monday.

No pictures, no reports, but anyone who was there confirms it was DOH on the sets. Same story regarding crowds - everyone was spread out & trying to avoid getting caught inside.

Truly incredible - the 5 hr window (6:00-11am) was the best it's been since Jan-Feb. It was the same size/shape/power as one of the winter swells in SD from this past year.

Anonymous said...

finally clean conditions this morning and next to no swell...fark

Anonymous said...

I agree with anon 10:18 PM once march came in it really did just turn average, and save for 5 hours at some point break or whatever we have been pretty screwed thanks to el nino.