Wave pools are starting to look pretty good right about now.
SURF:
A whole lot of nuthin’ out there.
FORECAST:
We have a couple blips on the radar but not much after that.
First up is a storm off South America that’s not ideally in our swell window (SW would be perfect; this storm is SSE) but we may get some chest high waves from it starting Monday and rolling into Wednesday. Luckily for us there’s a cold front up N that will add some NW windswell to the mix. Nothing big but the two swells may make some fun small chest high waves at the beach breaks the first part of next week. After that things go small on us again.
WEATHER:
As mentioned above, another surge of tropical moisture is headed our way for the weekend. No chance of rain at the coast but the mountains/deserts will get a drenching. A trough up N moves in early next week and the monsoon leaves the area and cooler/cloudier conditions prevail here at the beach. Temps should hang around the low to mid-70’s. A little cooler than usual for this time of year but still pleasant.
BEST BET:
The first part of next week with a little pulse of SSE groundswell and a touch of NW windswell. I know I’m grasping at straws here but it’s all we got!
NEWS OF THE WEEK:
We all know that wind creates waves (unless of course you’re an earthquake or a wave pool). But what exactly creates wind? You’re about to find out. And since school is about to start up again, I thought you wouldn’t mind a little getting a head start on your studying…
The energy that drives wind originates with the sun, which heats the Earth unevenly, creating warm spots and cool spots. Two simple examples of this are sea breezes and land breezes.
Sea breezes occur when inland areas heat up on sunny afternoons. That warms the air, causing it to rise. Cooler air rushes in from the ocean to take its place and presto, a wind is born. By late afternoon, a strong breeze can be blowing dozens of miles inland. A similar effect can occur near big lakes, where the wind is referred to as a lake breeze.
Land breezes come at night (i.e. early morning offshores), when inland temperatures drop enough that the ocean is now warmer than the land, reversing the effect.
Similar forces produce global wind patterns that affect climate. The tropics, for example, are always hot. Air rises here and spreads north and south, high above the land. Lower down, air is pulled in from the north and south. The ‘Coriolis Effect’, an offshoot of the Earth's rotation, makes moving air masses curve, so that the winds converging on the Equator come from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere. These winds are called the trade winds (ever been to Hawaii?...).
Farther from the Equator, the surface winds try to blow toward the Poles, but the Coriolis Effect bends them the opposite direction, creating westerlies. This is why so many weather events in the United States come from the west.
At latitudes higher than about 60°, cold surface winds try to blow toward the Equator, but, like the trade winds, they are bent by the Coriolis Effect, producing polar easterlies.
Within the mid-latitudes, weather effects create high- and low-pressure zones, called highs and lows, respectively. Air moves from areas of high pressure to low pressure. As it moves, however, it spirals due to the Coriolis Effect, producing the shifting winds we experience from day to day, as highs and lows drift under the influence of the prevailing westerlies.
Winds reaching the center of a low-pressure area have nowhere to go but up. This causes moisture to condense into clouds, producing storms. At the center of high-pressure areas, dry air descends from above, producing fair weather.
On a smaller scale, colliding wind patterns can produce convergence, in which air also has nowhere to go but up. If one of the winds is a humid flow from a warm ocean such as the Gulf of Mexico, the result can be powerful thunderstorms and tornadoes.
So with all these facts about wind and their origins, let’s have a quick look at some records that wind has produced:
Fastest ever recorded: 302 mph, which actually wasn’t a sustained wind but rather a 3-second gust; observed by a DOW (Doppler On Wheels) radar unit in a tornado between Oklahoma City and Moore, Oklahoma on May 3rd, 1999.
Fastest recorded with an anemometer: 253 mph, another 3-second gust; this from one of five extreme gusts during a series of 5-min time periods; Barrow Island, Western Australia, on April 10th, 1996, during Cyclone Olivia.
Fastest recorded with an anemometer (outside a tropical cyclone): 231 mph, from a sustained 1-minute average; right here in the good ol’ USA at Mount Washington, New Hampshire, April 12th, 1934.
And finally, the fastest daily average: 108 mph at Port Martin, Antarctica, in a 24-hour period from March 21st, 1951 to March 22nd, 1951. If it wasn’t cold enough down there, you also have to deal with the wind. Sounds like an awesome place to live.
PIC OF THE WEEK:
I’m looking to build a luxury resort here. Anyone have $100 million they can loan me? I’ll let you catch a wave or two.
Keep Surfing,
Michael W. Glenn
A Natural
1988 Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion
More Stoked Than Mason, Corky, Buran, and the Gudangs Combined
