The Surf Report- Early Edition

Back on track.

SURF:

Lots of surf this past week. And lots of storms too. Today we still had shoulder high sets from the NW and tomorrow will back off slightly, but we'll have fun chest high surf around town nonetheless.

Fear not though as more head high NW is headed our way for Saturday and overhead sets in SD. Sunday backs off slightly but we should have shoulder high sets to keep you amped.

Water temps are an unbelievable 64 degrees for December and tides the next few days are 6' at sunrise, down to -1' after lunch, and up to 1' at sunset. Make sure to keep up to speed on the waves/weather at Twitter/North County Surf.

FORECAST:
After a fun weekend of surf, we get another little pulse of chest high NW towards Tuesday that holds through the end of the work week.

Models show another storm taking shape in the Aleutians late in the week which may give us more head high NW late Sunday. Nothing big as far as the eye can see but at least we'll have rideable waves in the near future and cleaner conditions.

WEATHER:

We've got one last little shot of showers late tomorrow/early Saturday and then high pressure sets up shop for the 1st half of the work week. We'll have sunny skies and temps in the mid-70's. Towards the end of the week (i.e. Xmas), high pressure breaks down and we'll have cooler conditions and more clouds. No 'white' Christmas but at least it will be cooler. Models hint at MAYBE some more rain late next weekend but I'm not making any guarantees yet.

BEST BET:
Tough call- slightly bumpy but larger surf Saturday morning or smaller cleaner surf most of next week...

NEWS OF THE WEEK:

Rain Story 2: Last week I talked about the 1st real storm we had at the beginning of December and how El Nino may finally be arriving. Well, with the recent storm a few days ago downtown San Diego has had 4.87" of rain so far in December. So even though the month is barely half over, this December already ranks as the 14th wettest December on record. FYI: The average rainfall for December is 1.53". So where are we at with other locations around southern California?

• Newport Beach: 0.11" from the last storm. 3.70" for the season so far. 122% of normal
• Oceanside: 0.18" from the last storm. 3.64" for the season so far. 121% of normal.
• Lindbergh Field. 0.84" from the last storm. 4.87" for the season so far. 192% of normal.

So is the El Nino back on track? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has raised their El Nino status to 'watch' with the weather phenomenon having a 65% chance of occurring through the rest of the winter and through spring 2015 (vs. 58% just last month).

 

6-10 Day Outlook

 

 

 

1 Month Outlook

 

 

Current forecasts in the near term don't show any big storms through the end of the year but the 1 month outlook shows a 40% chance of above average rainfall next month. So we've still got a shot of having above average rainfall this season (i.e. our seasonal average is around 10" and we're almost 1/2 there already with January-April left in our 'rainy' window). 

PIC OF THE WEEK:

Sometimes the best presents are the ones right under your tree.

Keep Surfing,

Michael W. Glenn
Astonishing
Playing the Lead in Elf 2
Put Headlights On My 8'6" So I Can Surf Cortes At Night