THE Surf Report- Early Edition

And we're back.

SURF:
After a great weekend of weather at our local beaches, the past few days have taken a turn for the worse with cool and overcast skies- and a touch of drizzle. Welcome back June Gloom!

We've had plenty of surf though as we started off with shoulder high sets from the S on Monday and NW joined the party on Wednesday. Today was more of the same with shoulder high sets (and overhead waves in the OC) while the clouds hugged the coast and the deserts baked. For tomorrow into the weekend, the S backs off slightly and the NW hangs around. Look for chest high waves- with bigger sets towards the OC- and overcast conditions again. Along with all the clouds the past few days, water temps dropped a few degrees from 71 to 67. Not that big of a deal but trunks may be out of the question- especially with the clouds.

Tides this weekend are -1' at sunrise, up to 4' before lunch, down to 1.5' late afternoon, and up to 6' at sunset.

FORECAST:
Not much on the charts the past few days.

We had a small storm off New Zealand recently which will keep us in rideable waves early next week. Look for more chest high NW/SW combo swell starting Monday afternoon into Wednesday morning.

Models show some fairly unorganized storms occurring early next week which may give us shoulder high sets from the SSW around the 1st of July. Nothing big but better than nothing. Make sure to keep up to date on the waves & weather at Twitter/North County Surf. 

WEATHER:

Crazy week. Hot as Hades temperatures led to cancelled flights, buckled roads, and shattered records. But not here at the coast. Low clouds stuck to the beaches and I even had to turn on my windshield wipers this morning. Storm Watch! It's feast or famine here in Cali. Look for more of the same this weekend and most likely next week- clouds at the beaches and scorching heat in the deserts. The high pressure responsible for all this nonsense may shift slightly next weekend and there's a chance we could see sun again for the start of a long July 4th weekend.

BEST BET:
Tomorrow with lingering SW/NW or Tuesday with new similar sized SW/NW.

NEWS OF THE WEEK:

Waves and weather go hand in hand. Like ice cream and apple pie. Or Paris and the Eiffel Tower. Or Curren and Rincon. Or Jack and Alana. I'm getting off track here. What I'm trying to say is that if it wasn't for the weather, we wouldn't have waves of course. This week was quite the story for weather. Not along the immediate coast fortunately as the fog kept us cool and comfortable. But our deserts here in California were downright deadly- and record breaking. Let's start with the extreme:

Death Valley. As the name implies, you wouldn't want to live there (or even survive the summer for that matter). Temps on Wednesday hit an incredible 127 degrees. It's one thing to be outside in uncomfortable 100 degree temperatures. But approaching 130 degrees?! That doesn't even seem real. Let's put that into perspective:
-The highest temperature ever recorded ON EARTH was 134 degrees. So Death Valley was only 7 degrees away from historic heat. That's like saying the beach was 67 this morning and it may reach 74 by lunch. Not that much of a stretch.
-Ground temperatures on Wednesday approached 200 degrees. For comparison's sake, you can safely cook meat at 160 degrees. Imagine standing barefoot?!
-The low temp at night was 96 degrees. No real relief there.

As far as our local deserts go, Ocotillo Wells reached a high of 124 degrees; the highest temperature ever recorded in San Diego County. If you're wondering what the previous record was, that mark was 122 degrees in Borrego Springs. Guess when? Exactly a year ago on June 20th, 2016. Creepy.

Las Vegas wasn't much better as it hit an all-time record of 117 degrees and Phoenix hit 119, which you probably heard led to cancelling flights due to hot air being thinner and a detriment to the physics of aviation. The central valley (Modesto, Fresno, Sacramento, etc) all floated around 107-109 degrees- all record breakers. The extreme heat was also blamed for buckling roads from San Fran to Sacramento.

One fact that may only interest me is that with the lack of clouds, the mountains cool down fairly quickly at night. Mammoth Mountain is only 125 miles from Death Valley (about the same as San Diego to LA). Not that far, right? Well, on Wednesday it felt like the distance between the moon and the earth. The low temp in Mammoth was 47 degrees and the high in Death Valley of course was 127. An astonishing 80 degree difference just a couple hours away. For comparison's sake, the low in San Diego tonight will be 61 and the high in LA tomorrow will be 77. A paltry 16 degree difference. Yawn.

PIC OF THE WEEK:

Such a good wave. California truly is blessed in the wave department: Blacks, Swamis, Trestles, Wedge, Malibu, Rincon, Mavericks, Ocean Beach, etc. etc. etc.- you basically could try and surf up and down this wave rich coast the rest of your life and most likely never surf the same wave twice.

Keep Surfing,

Michael W. Glenn
One In A Million
Won't Sleep Until The Lakers Call My Name
Once Saw Da Cat Pig Dog On His Fish