I'm wearing a life jacket. In my house.
SURF:
Just our luck- a solid storm last week sent a good S swell our way again (3rd in a row) and wouldn't you know it- it arrives the same time a VERY late season storm decides to show up. We're just 4 weeks from summer and we get a good 'January' type storm in May. So if you planned on surfing today, forget about it. Tomorrow things clean up but unfortunately the water doesn't. If you must test the waters, Sunday will be the day but any size from the storm surf will be long gone and we'll just have leftover SW swell in the chest high+ range.
FORECAST:
Once the weekend cleans up, there's just some background pulses of NW/SW next week. On the best tides you should find some fun chest high sets off and on next week- most likely Tuesday/Thursday. Not the most thrilling forecast but not a whole lot on the charts.
WEATHER:
San Diego's Lindbergh Field (i.e. the airport) took the cake last night. A very impressive 1.5" of rain fell in just 90 minutes. Yep- you read that right. ONE AND A HALF INCHES IN AN HOUR AND A HALF. That's Costa Rica rainforest stuff. The rest of southern California wasn't that crazy but most everywhere received 1/2" so far. And we've got a little bit left coming this morning. Showers should end this afternoon and we've got cool clear conditions tomorrow with sunny skies and Sunday's a little better with temps in the high 60's. We have another cold front coming through on Monday but it looks like only drizzle is forecasted. The marine layer stays thick next week (i.e. May Gray) and there may be another cold front late next week- but the models have too much uncertainty at this time to predict showers again.
BEST BET:
Maybe leftover SW/NW on Sunday (but the water will be suspect), or some small background SW/NW next week with cleaner weather, or if you can wait that long (and believe the models), good SW swell towards the end of the month.
NEWS OF THE WEEK:
Amazing how odd our weather has been the past 12 months. Wildfires last May, an active hurricane season last summer, the hope of drenching El Nino rains, then the El Nino rains never showing up this winter and the Governor goes ballistic on the water restrictions, and now this: dumping rain just a few weeks before summer. All my studying of meteorology at San Diego State has completely gone to waste. So where do we stand on our rainfall this season:
-Newport Beach: 6.68" of rain so far this season. Normal is 12.93". At 51% of normal.
-Oceanside: 6.70" of rain so far this season. Normal is 13.66". At 49% of normal.
-San Diego: 8.66" of rain so far this season. Normal is 10.34". At 83% or normal.
So what does all this mean? Well, we're not out of the drought since we've been below average for years now. But the current rains are a huge relief as they'll delay our wildfire season this year; as well help slightly with the current drought situation. Hopefully we'll have a summer like last year where humidities stay high and we have the chance of a few monsoon showers here and there.
PIC OF THE WEEK:
Just how big is this wave? Probably only 2'. Hey- groms gotta have their own Shipsterns too.
Keep Surfing,
Michael W. Glenn
Wholesome Goodness
Letterman's Last Guest
Rip From 1' To 10' To 100'
