Surf for Monday – Small Combo Mix

Monday is looking rideable…but it will be a touch smaller than Sunday.

We are going to have a mix of fading S-SW energy and some slightly bigger local NW windswell. Overall it won’t be the most energetic mix of swells but if you can find a combo spot, and hit it on a lower tide, you should be able to find a couple of fun sections.

Sizewise we are looking at mostly waist high surf at the average spots. The better S-facing breaks and combo spots will be around waist-chest high. Standout combo spots, mostly through parts of OC and Northern SD, will have some inconsistent shoulder high sets on the low tides.

Winds look pretty good in the morning…light and variable with even a few pockets of glassiness at the well protected spots. Look for WNW winds 10-14 knots to fill in through the afternoon. It will still be pretty warm tomorrow too…so expect beach weather along the coast.



I wish there was a little more swell in the water tomorrow…but in general it looks like a small/playful surf day with what we have coming through. The winds will be decent, the water is warming up, and it won’t be totally flat. If you don’t have to work on Monday it sounds like a good reason to get in the water.

Quick note on Hurricane Carlos…looks like he is having some issues…the National Hurricane Center downgraded him back to Tropical Storm strength this afternoon. A couple of the forecast models are showing him strengthening back to Hurricane strength while a couple more are saying that he might not intensify at all. At this point I am looking for some minor/moderate tropical S swell from Carlos with wave heights right around waist-chest high, filtering into exposed spots late Tuesday through Thursday. Nothing to get excited about at this point…but better than nothing.

Here are the tides for Monday…

12:32AM LDT 3.9 H
07:24AM LDT 0.9 L
02:08PM LDT 4.3 H
08:28PM LDT 2.2 L

Tropical Update – TD-4E is now Hurricane Carlos

TD-4E has strengthened quite a bit since Friday morning. Over the past 36 hours the tropical depression quickly intensified into the named Tropical Storm Carlos…and now, by Saturday afternoon, Carlos has reached CAT-1 hurricane status (sustained winds of at least 65-knots near the core).

Currently Hurricane Carlos is about 700 or so miles SSW of the tip of Baja (1300-1400 miles from SoCal), moving west (270) at about 10 knots.







Carlos is already in the Southern California swell window and is likely producing some tropical swell for us that would arrive early next week…likely filling in some energy later on Monday but showing the strongest on Tuesday-Thursday of next week (if Carlos lives up to forecasts).

It is a little early for sizes since Carlos just got up to speed…and swell production is going to greatly depend on how long he lasts (and how he moves)…but at this point we can expect some increased tropical energy helping to fill in some of the gaps in the Southern Hemi swells that we have showing over the next week.

More details as Carlos continues to develop.