You can see the new S swell (180-200) showing solid on the southerly exposed buoys this afternoon…
This swell will fill in more tonight and will be peaking through Thursday morning, and generally holding throughout the day (and overnight into Friday as well). There will be some smaller windswell in the background, coming sort of WNW-NW, but I don’t think it is going to be enough to really break up the S swell…there may be a few more corners but most of the beach breaks are going to be a bit walled…hopefully the windswell will come on a bit stronger and we will get some better combo action (with kung-fu grip of course!).
Most S facing spots are going to see chest-shoulder high surf on Thursday…while the more exposed areas see some inconsistent head high sets. The standout S facing breaks, mostly in Orange County (but in a few other areas as well), will have more consistent shoulder-head high surf with some overhead sets mixing in. The spots that can focus this swell will have some bigger waves showing throughout the day as well.
Winds in the morning should be pretty light for most areas…Santa Barbara may have some WNW flow early but it will be shadowed from most of this swell so it doesn’t really matter that much. Further south it looks like a bit of an eddy is forecast to form up, but its center is forecast to be lower in latitude, which would let winds be more E-ESE for San Diego and OC…and light/variable for LA/Ventura. The forecasts have winds turning more S by mid-morning and then finally swinging around to the W in the afternoon…probably in the 10-14 knot range. Since the winds don’t get a lot of time going any particular direction I don’t think it will get too blown out…and the protected spots may stay pretty surfable throughout the day.
So steady new S swell showing on Thursday, a touch of windswell trying to break it up (key word is trying)…and winds that start off nice but get all swirly by the afternoon. S-facing points/Reefs are going to be the best call…with the biggest size in the OC. North LA, particularly as you move closer to Santa Monica, will be a bit shadowed by Catalina, San Clemente Island, and the Cortez Banks so expect slightly smaller, less consistent surf than in other spots. I am going to be up looking at things early, I have a feeling that the winds aren’t going to treat my North OC beach breaks all that well tomorrow...so hopefully we get bit more windswell to break things up overnight but without the winds themselves (really is that too much to ask?)
Here are the tides…happy hunting
05/06/2010 Thursday
03:45AM LDT 3.6 H
11:07AM LDT 0.7 L
06:05PM LDT 3.7 H
5 comments:
Up early Adam? The last few mornings have been cold, gale force south winds.
But by lunch, they seem to have died off and the beaches actually got warm.
I'm thinking lunch time. No/lo wind + tide switch.
Anonymous is right... The winds were slightly offshore this evening and the water was a helluva lot warmer then last weekend... Whatever though.. there's waves!
ya its been weird I feel like the morning should be glassy but it hasn't from 8am-11am its like semi glass then from 12-3 its windy then from 4-7 it just glasses off so nice its been like that the past couple of days.
OH peaks in upper newport today lots of fun, eddy was trying but definitely wasnt nearly as strong as the last few days...i mean weeks.
pretty fun in venice, too, but it was packed by 6:30.
and i was forgetting why i love winter so much...
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