The mix of WNW-NW swell (280-300) and SW swell (190-220) that filled in on Thursday will hold into early Friday and then slowly back down through the afternoon.
Sizewise we can expect the average WNW facing spots and the good combo breaks to be in the chest-head high range on Thursday…maybe a little smaller/less-consistent through the morning thanks to the fatty high tide. The better WNW-NW facing breaks and excellent combo spots, mostly in Ventura, the South Bay, and South San Diego, will have shoulder-head surf with sets going overhead+ at times once the tide drops. Really pay attention to the high tide…it is going to be pretty damn swampy first thing in the morning…so you will need to either find a break that can handle the extra water or wait for it to drop (and risk onshore winds).
Yet another storm system is forecast to move in on Friday…arriving more through the evening/night as we head toward Saturday…but there will be some shifting conditions on tap for Friday. Look for mostly light and variable winds on tap for Friday morning. S-SE winds will start to build up around Santa Barbara/Ventura around midday and then slowly push down the coast as we move through the afternoon. Look for S winds 10-15 knots on tap for most areas by sundown and then gusts hitting 25+ knots and rain arriving after midnight.
Man right back between the proverbial rock and the hard place…high dawn patrol tide and clean conditions vs dropping tide and building onshore winds…living in North OC I hate that choice, the wind almost always wins the race and waiting it out just leads to me driving around looking at blown out surf. I need to come up with a wind generator that can make it offshore all of the time…yeah I will get right on that.
Make sure to check out the regional forecasts for the details for each county.
Regional/County Forecasts
Santa Barbara Surf Forecast
Ventura County Surf Forecast
Los Angeles County Surf Forecast
Orange County Surf Forecast
San Diego Surf Forecast
Here are the tides…
02/26/2010 Friday
12:49AM LST 1.4 L
06:48AM LST 6.0 H
01:54PM LST -1.2 L
08:06PM LST 4.4 H
