THE Surf Report

Life is good.

SURF:

Not that I didn't mind the El Nino generated surf this past winter, but it was pretty unruly around here for months on end. Most spots weren't handling the size, and if it was, there were 100 screaming people out (isn't Swamis supposed to be about peace, love, and happiness)? These past couple weeks have been fun- SW swells have arrived just in time for spring and there's been more manageable NW.

Today we have both- SW and NW swells- for head high+ sets in the far north part of the county. Most everywhere though has head high waves and sunny skies. Life is good. Tomorrow the SW starts to back off as the NW holds then on Sunday it's chest high most everywhere as both swells fade. Nice weather is on tap regardless.

Water temps are in the low 60's and tides the next few days are 4' at sunrise, down to 0' after lunch, and back up to 4' at sunset.

FORECAST:
Monday looks to be a small day with some leftovers and Tuesday isn't much better as NW windswell moves down the coast for chest high waves in SD. After that things get tricky as the models show just enough activity to get the heart pumping but not too big to get the adrenaline going.

There's a weak storm on the maps today that should give us waist high SW swell in north county SD on Thursday and chest high sets in the OC. The forecast is also calling for a chance of showers, so whatever swell we get, it may be a little messy.

Those same showers are from a cut off low pressure system that could linger just to the SW of us before moving onshore over the weekend. If you'll remember, we sometimes get those cut off lows just to our south once a winter. The result is short period S windswell that comes sideways up the coast like a hurricane. Cool feature. We'll see if it pans out late next weekend.

After that the north Pacific goes dormant and the south Pacific isn't much better as storms are forecasted to go E to W (not aimed at us S to N) so we'll have to patiently wait to see if we get any SW swell mid-month.

WEATHER:

Besides the fun surf today, the only real excitement is the weather the next 7 days. High pressure is in control this weekend and we'll have great beach weather in the low 70's and just your typical night and morning low clouds/fog. Offshore flow looks to make a return Tuesday/Wednesday and beaches could warm up to 80. In regards to that cut off low pressure I mentioned in the forecast above, that could slowly move ashore next Thursday to Saturday and bring showers to the area. Cut off lows are tricky and don't behave the way you want them to (like kids!), so make sure to keep up to date on the conditions at Twitter/North County Surf.  

BEST BET:
Today and tomorrow. If you haven't left work already, get going.

NEWS OF THE WEEK:

Whenever we get this benign weather (i.e. 70 degree beach weather, low clouds/fog in the nights and mornings, doesn't matter if it's January 1st or July 1st here in San Diego), I like to look at what happened this day in San Diego's history in regards to our weather. I guess you could say all the turmoil above is just another day in Des Moines or Anchorage...

2000: Santa Ana winds gusted to 93 mph at Mission Viejo and 67 mph in Anaheim Hills.

1999: A late winter storm that started on this day and ended on 4/2 brought snow to the region. Seven to nine inches fell at Pine Valley and Descanso, two inches at Boulevard, “heavy snow” was reported at Cherry Valley (3000 feet), and one inch at Homeland (1,700 feet). Eight illegal immigrants were found dead near Descanso and two more just over the border. 50 survived wearing only light clothing and tennis shoes and had never experienced snow; they had been on foot for three days. A waterspout was observed six miles off Newport Beach.

1998: A winter like storm brought up to three feet of powdery snow to the ski resorts. 18 inches was reported at Pine Cove. Grape size hail piled up two inches deep at Laguna Niguel. During a period starting on 3/31 and ending on this day, numerous funnel clouds were reported near the Orange and San Diego County coasts, two of which became waterspouts off Orange County. One waterspout briefly hit the coast as a tornado south of the Huntington Beach Pier.

1992: Heavy rain from thunderstorms hit the region. One thunderstorm pounded Escondido with three inches of rainfall less than an hour and produced flash flooding.

1982: 13 inches of snow fell in Big Bear Lake, the greatest April snowfall on record. Strong storm winds considered a tornado hit Leucadia; trees were downed and greenhouses were destroyed.

1965: 1.85 inches of rain fell in Santa Ana, the greatest daily amount on record for April.

1958: A tornado touched down in Laguna Beach. 3.13 inches of rain fell in Palomar Mountain, the greatest daily amount on record for April.

1946: A 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the Aleutian Islands. Newport Harbor showed a five foot drop in tide. San Pedro showed a 2.5 foot jump in tide.

1903: At least 3.06 inches of rain fell in San Bernardino. Bridges and roads were washed out. A man using a cable car fell into the Santa Ana River and drowned.

PIC OF THE WEEK:

Tom Cozad is an OC photographer who is best know for his aerial shots. Not aerial like Felipe and John John boosting, but aerial meaning shots taken from a helicopter. It gives you a great perspective on how a certain surf spot breaks. You can use Google Earth all you want, but the shots taken from their drone or satellites usually aren't when a set is breaking. So Tom gets my stamp of approval. Check out his work at www.newportsurfshots.com or follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

Keep Surfing,

Michael W. Glenn
Professor Emeritus
Never an April Fool
Therapist Said I'm A Finatic Because I Own 45 Sets of Fins