THE Surf Report 9/30/11

Hodgepodge!

SURF:
What don’t we have going on right now? Hurricane surf, Aleutian groundswells, tropical weather, a chance of a ‘winter’ cold front with rain and wind next week, red tide- oh and I forgot- giant squid washing up on the beaches! It’s the end of the world as we know it. Earlier in the week we had a fun NW groundswell show up and south SD had head high sets. Then Hurricane Hillary sent surf our way and the OC got some head high waves yesterday. Today we’ve got a small dying NW swell mixed in with dying hurricane surf from Hillary. SD and south OC have some chest high sets while there’s still the odd head high wave from Hillary in north OC. Considering it’s been cloudy, small surf, and red tide the past two weeks, the last few days have been a blessing. Looks like the NW should be gone tomorrow while the small leftover S from Hillary will have some chest high sets in the OC. By Sunday it looks pretty small around here. Water temps are a cool 64 degrees and the tides the next few days are about 1’ at sunrise, 6’ at noon, and down to -1’ at sunset. Make sure to keep an eye out on the tides as the conditions will change drastically during the day. And as always, follow the swells and conditions at Twitter/North County Surf.

FORECAST:

After the swells peter out this weekend, the Pacific doesn’t sleep for long as we’ve got a few swells lined up on the charts. The north Pacific has been acting like it’s December already and we’ve got some waves and weather (more on that below) headed our way. Looks like Monday afternoon we should get a bump from the NW for chest high waves in north SD and head high waves in south SD.

Also, a few days ago a good storm was brewing in the southern hemisphere and it’s sending a fun SW swell for the middle of the week. Look for some shoulder high waves in SD and overhead sets in the OC for Wednesday. And let’s circle back to the north Pacific (am I losing you here)? Charts show a solid ‘winter’ type storm building momentum early next week and sending us a solid overhead NW for Thursday. All in all it should be a fun week for surf- if the weather holds up…

WEATHER:

This is going to be one interesting stretch of 7 days coming up. We literally will have 1 of everything: foggy conditions, tropical weather, sunny skies, and a winter type cold front. Seriously- we’re going to get the 4 seasons in a 7 day stretch. I love this stuff. So first up- today we have high pressure inland keeping the fog and low clouds confined to the coast. Then tomorrow high pressure is setting up over the Four Corners (i.e. Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado) and the rotation of the winds is going to suck in what’s left of Hurricane Hillary. So look for tropical clouds overhead this weekend with a slight chance of showers and some rumbling in the skies. Then a weak cold front moves through on Monday and cleans out the tropical junk and we’re left low clouds and fog with cool temperatures through Wednesday. Next up on the radar is a unseasonably large cold front poised to move down the state late Wednesday and into our region Thursday. Models show this being a typical winter storm with rain and wind for Thursday. I don’t expect it to be a large storm nor lots of rain, I think the novelty is that we just got done with summer 9 days ago and all of a sudden we’re headed towards winter. What happened to fall?

BEST BET:
Wednesday should be the call. With a SW peaking AND the calm before the storm Thursday, it’s looking like a good bet. And I’m hoping that solid NW Thursday shows up a little early on Wednesday too…

NEWS OF THE WEEK:

View more videos at: http://nbcsandiego.com.

Another sign the Apocalypse is upon us: Besides the red tide and cloudy conditions that have plagued our coast for 2 weeks now, it’s also seemed to confuse the giant Humboldt squid. They’ve been washing ashore in large numbers lately from San Diego to Orange County. Scientists don’t know what’s causing it but there are a few theories:
1. The recent red tide. If you read last week’s News of the Week, it went into detail of the dreaded red tide we’ve been having. Made up of phytoplankton, tiny fish are gorging on the recent bloom and in turn the squid are eating the fish. With all the red tide we’ve had the last few weeks, the giant squid most likely have been feasting like it’s the buffet at Caesar’s.
2. With global warming, species are moving to new territories to live. The giant Humboldt squid (which are actually from Chile) could be moving up the coast to set up shop.
3. Fish seem more likely to get sick from the red tide than humans (besides the recent ear and sinus infections most surfers have been getting from it) and in some instances, it’s toxic to the fish. With the squid eating the fish full of the red tide phytoplankton, they may be getting sick too and beaching themselves.
4. Remember the small 4.0 earthquake off La Jolla in 2009? Wasn’t a big headliner but what really shook people up were the hundreds of squid that beached themselves minutes after the quake. Seems as though the trembler disoriented the critters. Maybe they know something we don’t?
Regardless, it’s a bummer these giant squid (up to 4 feet) have been washing up on shore lately. Hopefully the red tide will dissipate and we’ll all be back to normal soon. And one word of note- if the squid are sick- don’t touch them!

BEST OF THE BLOG:
With all the unique weather coming up, swells from all directions, red tide, and giant squid washing ashore, maybe it is Armageddon?! What’s next? A Wal Mart in Encinitas? Ha! Never! What? What’s that you say? City council just approved it? Why hath you forsaken me! Check out the story in the blog below. Or if you can’t bear to look at the carnage, relax and watch Matt Wilkinson go for every trick in the book. Or get up to date on a mid-week surf check. Anything’s better than Wal Mart. On that note- support your local surf shop!

PIC(S) OF THE WEEK:

Today’s word is “P-O-T-E-N-T-I-A-L”. Say it with me “potential”. Now I admit, today’s Pic of the Week isn’t the biggest barrel or longest point or most hideous slab. They’re actually hardly breaking. That’s why I’m giving you two Pics of the Week today- to make up for their shortcomings. One’s a coldwater right reef, the other’s a tropical superbank left. You see, I love these kinds of shots because it’s what I grew up on- not Pipeline, not J-Bay, not Kirra. But rather my local little reefbreaks as a grom that never seemed to get good EXCEPT when all the conditions came together once a year and they were the best spots on earth in my biased opinion. Like today’s pics- just think what solid 8’ surf would do to these places. All time I tell ya! So pull up Google Earth and your weather maps and start figuring out a way to find these spots and be there when they finally come to life…

Keep Surfing,

Michael W. Glenn
Tycoon
The X Factor
Godfather of Laybacks