THE Surf Report

1 last day of winter- 4 weeks late.

SURF:

Had some fun surf the past few days- and some nice weather- and that will all change this weekend. I've got good news and bad news.

First the good news- we had a solid storm last week off Antarctica and it sent us a good SW that will arrive this weekend. Bad news is that we have the last storm of the season moving down the coast tomorrow that will peak- you guessed it- when that new SW arrives. So as the SW fills in late Friday, the late season storm will kick it up a notch.

Look for overhead SW swell Saturday morning AND overhead NW windswell too as the winds will be blowing 25mph from the W. By Sunday the SW will be hanging on as the NW dies BUT- we will have good weather and more head high+ waves. Water temps are a nice 65 degrees but they may drop after the storm blows through this weekend- keep the 4/3 handy just in case.

Tides the next few days are about 5' at sunrise, down to 0' at 2pm, and back to 5' at sunset. Make sure to keep up to date on the waves/weather at Twitter/North County Surf.

FORECAST:

After the big junky combo swell on Saturday and the cleaner fun surf on Sunday, we're left with... nothing next week. Models show nothing from the southern hemisphere or northern hemisphere headed our way.

One chart shows a little NW windswell for chest high waves late Monday into Tuesday but that's nothing to write home about. So get the surf while you can this weekend- stormy or otherwise!

WEATHER:

Hope you enjoyed the nice summer like weather the past few days because the next few days are going to be winter like. We've got a late season storm headed our way tomorrow and we'll start to get some clouds and wind late in the day. By Saturday morning we'll have gusty SW winds around 25 mph and a shot of showers in the 1/4" range. Nothing major- just a fly in the ointment before summer- and we'll be back to normal by Sunday. High pressure sets up next week and some potential readings near 80 degrees at the beaches by mid-week.

BEST BET:
Sunday as there will still be plenty of SW/NW in the water AND clean weather finally!

NEWS OF THE WEEK:
If you’ve been a reader of the North County Surf blog the past few years, you’ve most likely ran across a few earthquake and tsunami stories. Such as how to prepare for a tsunami, the damage tsunami’s can do, more tsunami preparation again, and potential southern California tsunami damage (you can see them here if you're looking to kill a few hours at work):

• 'How to prepare for a Tsunami'
• 'Tsunami Damage'
• 'Tsunami Preparation'
• 'Potential So-Cal Tsunami Damange'

And the granddaddy of them all- March 2011’s story about how 3 out of the 4 corners of the Pacific Rim had large earthquakes all within a few month’s time: Late 2010’s big 8.8 quake in Chile (the southeast corner of the Pacific). Then it moved to the southwest of the Pacific with the horrific 6.3 New Zealand quake. And then in early March 2011 it moved up to the northwest of the Pacific with Japan's 9.0 blowout. So where was the 4th corner that was spared? California of course…

Not to freak anyone out, but considering all the earthquakes we’ve had lately around the Pacific Rim (8.2 in Chile on 4/1, 7.6 in the Solomon Islands on 4/3, 7.2 in Mexico on 4/18, 6.6 in British Columbia today, 6.6 off the coast of Nicaragua on 4/11, 6.5 off Fiji on 3/26, 6.0 off Panama on 4/2, and countless others that happen more often then I’d like to mention), our luck really can’t last one more time, can it? Regardless, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have a refresher course on being prepared for an emergency. Before we get started though, let’s take a look at what a tsunami can do- since this blog is surf based of course. The largest earthquake ever recorded was a magnitude 9.5 in 1960 that occurred in Chile’s subduction zone. The resulting tsunami killed 61 people in Hawaii and 138 in Japan. The quake and tsunami combined caused 1,655 deaths. Both of these quakes occurred in what is called a subduction zone, where an oceanic plate is being pushed beneath a continental plate and back into the Earth’s mantle. A continuous subduction zone runs along South America’s Pacific border. Subduction zones are capable of bigger quakes than any other type of plate boundary, and are also responsible for the active volcanoes that ring the Pacific Ocean. The second largest earthquake ever recorded was a magnitude 9.2 in a subduction zone near Anchorage Alaska in 1964, which resulted in a tsunami that killed 11 people nearly 2,000 miles away in Crescent City, California and 128 people total with waves that reached up to 220 feet high in places. A tsunami caused by another subduction zone event in the Pacific Northwest in 1700 damaged boats, fields and houses in Japan. And of course, the tragic 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami caused by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake in a subduction zone by Sumatra killed more than 200,000 people.

Now of course a tsunami is only part of the problem. The earthquake is the other hazard we need to be prepared for. There’s a million places on-line that you can find useful information to prepare for a disaster but one of the most thorough is the County of San Diego's Emergency Services page. Thorough because it gives you a game plan before, during, and after a disaster. Another page I’ve had book marked for a while- like 2 ½ years because of the power outage we had in the late summer of 2011- is the San Diego Union Tribune’s story titled ‘Are you prepared for a real disaster?' If you want more information, have a gander at the Red Cross's website, FEMA (if you still believe in them after Hurricane Katrina) and I’m not going to bore you with the details as every family needs their own particular plan, but at least it’s a start and you should carve out a few hours this weekend to start planning! Just in case…

PIC OF THE WEEK:
It's amazing to think there's waves like this that go unridden all around the world. My goal in life to create one of those Star Trek transporter things and take every single last surfer on earth and plop them down on their own empty wave. Of course some people would get their own empty wave in Alaska or some butt cold place but hey- beggars can't be choosers.

Keep Surfing,

Michael W. Glenn
Upper Crust
Perfect SAT Score. Twice.
Boothy's Stunt Double In Performers 2