Rain and wave drought this weekend.
SURF:
Had some good weather and good surf the past few days with a couple NW swells hitting our beaches.
FORECAST:
Not much on tap for early in the week and it looks like Sunday-Wednesday will be pretty small. Charts show a storm forming early in the week though in the mid-Pacific which should give us shoulder high waves again on Thursday and head high waves for the weekend- if the rain holds off (more on that below). Models also show the southern hemisphere starting coming to life again (which isn't unusual since March is only 10 days away). So if everything holds up, the OC may get some chest high SW swell towards March 1st.
WEATHER:
Nice summer weather is on tap again for today with only high clouds above and temps in the low 70's at the beaches. High pressure begins to gradually break apart each day with patchy low clouds/fog returning Saturday and a little more extensive on Sunday/Monday. By Tuesday we should have more persistent low clouds at the beaches with temps in the mid-60's. Still pretty darn good for winter. Models are again teasing us by showing some rain developing towards the 2nd half of next week. I'll believe that when I see it- like a wave pool with a real 6' wave to ride.
BEST BET:
Today! Even though the swell is dying- we at least have rideable waves and the good weather is cooperating. Or... if the models hold up- storm surf the 2nd half of next week- if you're in to that sort of thing.
NEWS OF THE WEEK:
With just 2" of rain around here this winter- normal is around 8"- and now the dry months of summer are in our headlights ahead, CNN is reporting "the worst drought that California has ever seen" has become even worse. It has been a month since Gov. Jerry Brown said the state was facing perhaps "the worst drought that California has ever seen since records (began) about 100 years ago." New numbers released Thursday are painting an even dimmer picture. Currently, the whole state of California is "abnormally dry," according to a weekly report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That's a little worse than last week, when 98% of the state had that designation, the report said. Brown has already urged Californians to cut back on water use. He's already called for a voluntary 20% conservation effort statewide. "It's important to wake all Californians to the serious matter of the drought and lack of rain," Brown said in January. "We are in an unprecedented, serious situation that people should pause and reflect on how we're dependent on rain, Mother Nature and each other." President Barack Obama was in California last week announcing a new federal initiative aimed at helping farms and communities. The exact financial impact of the historic drought in California has yet to be calculated. But the financial blow could be in the billions of dollars, especially if the 2012 national drought is any indication. That disaster cost the country $30 billion, according to the National Climatic Data Center. Think I'm going to grab my shovel and hammer and head over to the desalination plant in Carlsbad to give them a hand in finishing it.
BEST OF THE BLOG:
I've written various wave pool articles over the years and now the I can see the light at the end of the tunnel: the real first commercial wave pool- that's not in the Mid East- looks like it's going to be built. Check out the full story as well as the mid-week Surf Check and in-depth THE Surf Report- all of that and more in the blog below!
PIC OF THE WEEK:
You want slabs?! I got one that's SOOO nasty that it deserved a before and after shot this week. God bless those boogie boarders- they have no idea the pounding they're about to take.
Keep Surfing,
Michael W. Glenn
Dean
Last Laker Standing
Odds on Favorite To Win The 'Walmart Wave Pool Pro' in 2020
