THE Surf Report- Early Edition

Waiting. Wishing. Windy.

SURF:

Nothing exciting this past week but it was fun. Had some background NW and SW for chest high waves and nice weather. Today the NW windswell picked up a notch as the SW held. We've got a storm moving through the Rockies tonight and as it does, it will whip our our N winds down here tomorrow. Wind gusts in our local mountains may even reach 70 MPH. Down here at the coast though, we'll have gusts to 30 MPH and those should turn NE (offshore) on Saturday.

With all the N wind, the windswell is increasing and we'll have head high sets Friday and overhead in SD. That holds into Saturday morning.

We also have a small fun SW filling in but with all the windswell, you may not notice it. As the wind continues to blow offshore on Sunday, the NW swell will decrease quickly. We'll still have background SW/NW for chest high sets Sunday morning so don't despair.

Tides the next few days are 4' at sunrise, down to 0' at noon, and up to 4' at sunset. Pretty straightforward. And water temps have warmed up to 64 but will most likely drop to the high 50's in a few days from the NNE winds.

FORECAST:
After the mixed bag over the weekend, the weather stays nice and the surf stays small. Just background NW/SW for chest high sets at the best combo spots.

By Wednesday though, we start to see a new S fill in from a storm that got it's second wind from the previous weekend's SW. Look for chest high sets in north county SD and shoulder high sets in the OC. We'll also have a little bit of waist high NW swell to help peak things up.

Further out, the southern hemisphere starts to get it's act together and we may see good head high SW towards the 24th.

WEATHER:

As mentioned above, winds will be a problem tomorrow as a storm moves into the Great Basin and sends us N wind instead of rain. Winds turn NE Saturday afternoon and stay offshore on Sunday. Beach temps will be in the high 70's late this weekend. Early in the work week temps stay in the high 70's/low 80's. Models then show a trough of low pressure trying to force it's way in late next week and we should see clouds increase and temps finally drop. Make sure to keep up to date on the conditions at Twitter/North County Surf. 

BEST BET:
Saturday with winds turning offshore and dropping NW/holding SW. Or next Wednesday with new fun SW and the last of the good weather.

NEWS OF THE WEEK:

Ever surf for a few hours and would just die for a glass of water while you're sitting in the line up? Especially in the tropics with the searing heat and humidity melting your skin; wouldn’t it be great to just lean over your board and take a big gulp of pure clear ocean water? You can’t of course- seawater contains salt. What the heck? Gatorade contains salt- isn’t that supposed to ‘re-hydrate’ you?! While humans can safely ingest small amounts of salt, the salt content in seawater is much higher than what can be processed by the human body (and what’s in sport drinks for that matter). Additionally, when we consume salt as part of our daily diets, we also drink liquids, which help to dilute the salt and keep it at a healthy level. Living cells do depend on sodium chloride (salt) to maintain the body’s chemical balances and reactions; however, too much sodium can be deadly.

Human kidneys can only make urine that is less salty than salt water. Therefore, to get rid of all the excess salt taken in by drinking seawater, you have to urinate more water than you drank. Eventually, you die of dehydration even as you become thirstier. Awesome. Not.

So with all the rain and rivers that dump freshwater into ocean every day (and eons for that matter) how come sea water is so salty? Blame it on terra firma- salt in the ocean comes from the rocks on land: The rain that falls on the land contains some dissolved carbon dioxide from the surrounding air. This causes the rainwater to be slightly acidic due to carbonic acid (which forms from carbon dioxide and water).

As the rain erodes the rock, acids in the rainwater break down the rock. This process creates ions, or electrically charged atomic particles. These ions are carried away in runoff to streams and rivers and, ultimately, to the ocean. Many of the dissolved ions are used by organisms in the ocean and are removed from the water. Others are not used up and are left for long periods of time where their concentrations increase over time.

Two of the most prevalant ions in seawater are chloride and sodium. Together, they make up over 90 percent of all dissolved ions in the ocean. Sodium and Chloride are 'salty.'

The concentration of salt in seawater (salinity) is about 35 parts per thousand. Stated in another way, about 3.5 percent of the weight of seawater comes from the dissolved salts; in a cubic mile of seawater, the weight of the salt (in the form of sodium chloride) would be about 120 million tons.

By some estimates, if the salt in the ocean could be removed and spread evenly over the Earth’s land surface it would form a layer more than 500 feet thick, about the height of a 40-story office building.

So there you have it. If you’ve been surfing Restaurants in Tavi for 4 hours and are dying for a drink, better to mosey on up to the bar in the real restaurant and have yourself a cold one.

PIC OF THE WEEK:

It's like Disneyland for surfers. Even has Mickey Mouse surfers in long sleeve rashguards and aqua socks!

Keep Surfing,

Michael W. Glenn
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