We will have a mix of S-SW swell (180-210) coming out of the Southern Hemi, some quickly fading SE swell (160-170) from former TS Blanca, and some increasing NW windswell.
That tropical swell showed up on Thursday with a bit more energy than I was expecting...a few of the better exposed SE spots had some shoulder-head high sets. It definitely didn’t show everywhere but if you were around SE facing spots in North OC (and a few of the other good SE facing spots in the other counties) there were a few decent sized waves.
Friday’s wave heights will be pretty similar to Thursday’s...average exposed spots will be around waist-chest high on the lower tides. The better S facing spots and good combo spots will be in the chest-shoulder high range on the inconsistent sets. The standout S spots (that have some SE exposure) will be more consistently in the shoulder high+ range through the morning but will lose size and consistency as we move into the afternoon.
The slight eddy conditions will also continue on Friday. We can expect mostly light and variable winds through Santa Barbara, Ventura, and LA tomorrow. Orange County and San Diego will see slight southerly winds around 5-6 knots through the morning. WNW winds 10-14 knots move back in through mid-afternoon.
Like I said it looks “ok” tomorrow...nothing really stands out, other than a few of the top SE facing spots, and those won’t be worth driving very far to look at. Still I think it will be a surf day...we have light winds and low tides in the morning as well as a playful swell mix...add in that water temps are climbing out of the cellar (somewhere in the 61-63-degree range) and it makes a good case for getting in the water.
Here are the tides...
06:01AM LDT -0.2 L
12:27PM LDT 3.8 H
05:26PM LDT 2.3 L
11:14PM LDT 5.0 H
4 comments:
Interesting forecast. Are you trying to avoid a stampede? It's not like visitors would get any waves - there's a ton of hot guys out warming up for the circus. LOL
This morning, a photo pro (who shall remain nameless) was telling a friend the forecasts had called for declining waves during the week, yet each day had been bigger/better.
His main complaint was missing the morning window. He got out later today and ripped it up on some impressive lefts, but didn't get in a full surf session.
trestles on fire, super consistent wave after wave consistency!
HEy is there a NW swell coming this weekend cause Santa Barbara had some surf today Adam!
for some reason I don't feel that bad for a photo pro that didn't get a "full" surf in :)
All kidding aside...the mix of swell out there is looking a lot better than it did on the charts. Some of it, particularly at the SE facing spots, is from TS Blanca...which now that we see the swell was probably undercalled by the National Hurricane Center...I bet that she was a full hurricane at some point.
That is sort of the nature of tropical swells...you have to work with what you have...and if the estimates of the storm are off then the forecast will be off too.
It helps that we had 2 other swells, one from the S and SW that are in the water too...they fill in the gaps as the overlap, and add some size to the combo spots.
Really only the top OC spots had the full size today...and with the tropical swell being sort of shady I wanted to stay on the conservative side in the forecast. I would rather undercall it by a bit than get everyone all frothed up for something that doesn't show. I hope not too many people were bummed.
Anon #3...where did you surf in SB today? There is a little windswell in the water, that is gradually turning more WNW (it won't be very big though)...and a little bit of the SE swell sneaks through the Channel islands too, which makes me curious as to what spot you hit.
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