Surf Photos – From the Great Cold North

Here are a few shots sent in by one of our Nor/Cen California brethren…these were all taken at a partially exposed surf area over the weekend as the NW swell was peaking. Looks pretty darn fun considering that it wasn’t getting a full dose of the NW’er.

Southern California Long-range Surf Forecast – 9/10/2009

Forecast Overview

Wave heights are coming up slightly over the next few days as more S-SW energy from Linda (now Hurricane Linda) fills in and mixes with local windswell and leftover SW Southern Hemi swell. Look for a decent WNW-NW swell arriving on Sunday and holding into early next week.

Short Range (next 3 days)



Friday
We will have a mix of tropical S-SW swell, local NW windswell, and some background SW swell. Most spots will hold around waist high with some inconsistent chest high sets mixing in at the better exposed breaks. The top S-SW facing spots, mostly through Orange County and San Diego, will have waist-chest high+ surf fairly consistently but with a few bigger sets mixing in at times. Winds/Weather: Light and variable for the morning. Winds will be mostly below 5 knots but there will be some slight bump at the more exposed areas. W winds 10-15 knots move in through the afternoon.

Saturday
The tropical S-SW swell (200-215) will strengthen a touch and mix with local windswell as well as some more background SW swell. Wave heights will come up a not with the average spots seeing some more consistent waist-chest high surf. Standout S-SW facing spots, the good combo breaks and spots that like shorter-period swells, will be in the chest-shoulder high range with a chance for a rare bigger set on the low tides. Winds/Weather: Light and variable for the morning. Winds will be mostly below 5 knots but there will be some slight bump at the more exposed areas. W winds 10-15 knots move in through the afternoon.

Sunday
The tropical S-SW swell (200-220) will start to back off slightly but still mix with some NW/SW energy. A new WNW-NW swell (290-300) moves in throughout the day and will start adding size to many of the winter spots. Most breaks will continue to hold around waist-chest high but now with some plus sets getting into the mix. The standout breaks, particularly NW/SW combo spots, will be in the shoulder high range with some head high sets combo-ing up at times. This looks like a decent surf day…combo swell with some tropical activity driving part of the combo as well as a longer-period WNW-NW swell…I think I am going to have to cancel all of my chores for the morning. Winds/Weather: Light and variable for the morning. Winds will be mostly below 5 knots but there will be some slight bump at the more exposed areas. W winds 10-15 knots move in through the afternoon.

Long-Range



North Pacific
The storm that we were watching in the last forecast has formed over the last couple of days and is now in the process of setting up some WNW-NW swell (290-300) for later this weekend and into early next week. We will see that new energy arriving at spots in Ventura (and much more shadowed) in Santa Barbara later Saturday night. This swell will fill in more overnight and will push down throughout the rest of Socal. Look for the swell to peak with waist-chest high surf at the better NW facing spots and some chest-shoulder high+ sets coming through at the top spots. Look for this energy to hold into Monday and then slowly start to wind down as we move into the week. Check out the winds on that storm…



Further out it looks like the NPAC is going to quiet down stormwise…so we are going to see marginal leftover energy, and local windswell through most of next week.

South Pacific
The SPAC is just sort of cruising along right now…not kicking out any significant swell, but not going completely dormant either. We are going to see a mix of smaller, less consistent, SW swells over the next week or so…and then a slightly better SSW swell (190-210) moving in around the 18-19th.

We had a couple of storms, one underneath New Zealand and another over by Chile that will both likely send us some swell. This next round of swell, both SE (170-180) and SW (205-220) will begin arriving on September 12th but peaking into the 13-14th with chest high+ waves at the best exposed spots. Those waves will hang around for a few days and it looks like more similar sized SW energy will help to reinforce the first pulse around the 15-16th.

Even further out it looks like a better set of fetch is forecast to form in about 2-3 days that could set up a better angled S-SSW swell (180-200) for around the 18-19th of September. Again nothing huge, but it will be a more consistent chest-shoulder high sets for the better summer spots. Here is the storm setting up that swell.



Northeast Pacific Tropics
TS Linda strengthened Wednesday night and is now Hurricane Linda. If you read the tropical update that I issued earlier you already know that Linda is now a much better looking storm from a wave-making perspective.



She is still sitting almost completely still while she increased in intensity, both of which are good for swell production and, because the storm is a bit stronger, the swell-periods it is kicking out are a bit longer (which shortened travel time for the swell)…so we actually have tropical S-SW swell (190-210) showing here on Thursday, which is nice since it is sending us most of the rideable waves that we are seeing today. This tropical energy will continue to hold through Friday, strengthen slightly on Saturday, and then start to slowly fade out on Sunday. Overall it won’t be a huge swell, but we can expect consistent waist-chest high waves at the average spots with some chest-shoulder high waves at the top S-SW facing spots.


Next Long-range forecast will be posted on Thursday, September 14, 2009

Adam Wright
Surf Forecaster
www.Socalsurf.com

Waves for Thursday – Looks fun...go Surfing

Thursday looks like a surf day.

I got a chance to get in the water (in North HB) earlier today and that WNW mix was doing pretty well. I would even say that I undercalled the swell mix a bit in the forecast yesterday. Shape wasn’t stellar by the time I paddled out, the onshore wind was getting to it and it was a bit lined up, but it had some decent size to the sets. On average it was about head high but there were a couple of bigger sets lurking out there.

On Thursday that WNW swell mix (290-300) is going to continue...and we are going to start to see an increasing SSW swell (180-200) that is going to be arriving throughout the day with long-period energy. The SSW’er will actually peak on Friday/Saturday but there will be some bigger sets at the S facing spots as it fills in slowly.

In the morning I would look for the biggest waves at the same WNW facing spots that had them showing on Wednesday. The SSW’er won’t have much size in the morning...so the S facing spots will still be working off mostly leftovers. By the afternoon the combo spots will be a better call. The morning will look something like this...



Sizewise it looks like the average W facing breaks will be in the chest-shoulder high range. The Standout NW facing spots...like those in San Diego, Ventura, and the South Bay...will have some shoulder-head high surf with some overhead sets still mixing in at times. It will be more consistent on the bigger sets during the lower tide.

The winds look good tomorrow...mostly light and variable through the morning...maybe even a touch light-offshore for a few of the areas near passes and canyons. WNW winds around 10-14 knots build in through the afternoon.



Good winds, decent WNW swell mix, building SSW swell...I don’t think that it will be “firing” but it should be pretty fun in most areas...you shouldn’t have to drive around too much to find waves. I would stick to the NW facing spots if you want the bigger sizes.

Here are the tides...

03:09AM LDT -0.5 L
09:10AM LDT 3.8 H
02:30PM LDT 1.2 L
08:38PM LDT 5.8 H

Wednesday's Waves (Update) - Afternoon Session anyone?

Looks like we are going to get a chance at an afternoon/evening session today.

The swell combo is hitting pretty good in the exposed areas this afternoon and winds are still pretty light. I actually pulled a lunch session at one of the "average" beach breaks in N. OC and it was pretty darn fun. Getting a bit drained as the tide started to drop out but it was throwing some square little barrels on the inside.

We hit the low tide around 4pm and right now the winds look like should stay fairly light through the end of the day. So by quitting time we should have the tide starting to slowly push back in and a nice combo swell in the water. Points and reefs will probably have the best shape (the SSW swell seems a little overpowering if you have a spot that is exposed to it) but the combo beach breaks will be fun as well. Here is a shot at the winds at 3pm from the COAMPs observations...if winds aren't too strong by now they should stay manageable.



If you can get off work early I would try and check it. I know I am going to try and sneak another surf in.

Random Monday Morning Surf Report – Looking fun out there

Just did a quick surf check this morning and it looks pretty fun out there…and by “out there” I mean at almost all of the SW facing spots in SoCal.

The new SW swell is already showing some decent size and it will continue to build through the day (and other similar-larger size chunk of SW swell arrives over the next couple of days).

Winds are light and variable…most spots are clean (with a few pockets of southerly texture at the more exposed ones).

The points and reefs are seeing the best shape…particularly those in South OC, North San Diego, and if you like a smaller wave…in North LA County.

Wave Heights are generally in the chest-high+ range while the standout areas are seeing shoulder-high to overhead sets. It is a bit inconsistent (probably thanks to the morning tide drain)…but look for the consistency and the tide to build as we move throughout the day. If you can try and paddle out around 9am when the tide will start to switch around.