Strike while the iron’s hot.
SURF:
This weekend’s mantra is ‘strike while the iron’s hot’. Why? Because we have warm weather headed our
way and fun surf tomorrow- and then that’s it! Before we get into the details,
let’s have a look at the past week.
Lots of big swell- whether windy or clean-
graced our shores. Today we had another NW fill in for shoulder high surf while
a quick moving cold front showed up after lunch to blow things to bits.
Tonight
the cold front exits the region and in it’s wake is head high
windswell/groundswell. That dies on Saturday and by Sunday it’s small. So
again, this weekend’s mantra is ‘strike while the iron’s hot’. On the flip
side, while it’s small on Sunday, the weather will be fantastic with temps near
80.
Water temps are high 50’s and tides the next few days are around 5’ at
sunrise, down to -1’ at lunch, and back up to 3’ at sunset. Make sure to keep
up to date on the waves and weather at Twitter/North County Surf.
FORECAST:
As luck would have it, I bought a new step-up just in time
for it to go flat. Murphy’s Law. Feel free to chastise me.
Looks like small
conditions through Tuesday then on Wednesday we get a little bump from an early (or late?)
season SW while some steep NW fills in. Add that up and you get maybe chest
high surf.
After that, models show another steep NW headed our way for chest
high waves again around February 5th.
And further out, forecast
charts show a steep S swell headed our way around February 8th for
more chest high surf. As far as overhead NW swells go right in the middle of
winter… we’re in a holding pattern until further notice. So my brand new
step-up will sit by it’s lonesome in the garage. Sniff.
WEATHER:
As is typical this time of year, we should be getting dumped
on with rain, wind, and snow in our local mountains. But since La Nina has
shown up as an unwelcome house guest, we get high pressure, sunny skies, and
temps in the 80’s at the beaches. Great for August- bad for January. Look for
temps in the low 70’s tomorrow as the cold front exits our region, then high
pressure Saturday through Tuesday delivers temps in the low 80’s and sunshine
aplenty. Another weak front moves through the 2nd half of next week
for more manageable temps in the high 60’s and a few clouds overhead.
As far as
rain goes, nothing through the 1st week of February. Hope I’m wrong.
BEST BET:
Tomorrow morning with peaking NW or next Wednesday with smaller
combo swell.
NEWS OF THE WEEK:
Can you believe that storm we had a couple weeks ago?! 2” of
rain at the coast and up to 6” in the mountains. Crazy! We must be up to, what,
10” of rain so far this season? Right? No? Maybe 6”? I mean, it’s almost
February and we should have received some showers in October, at least 1 storm
in November, and really got drenched in December and January. Right?... Ok,
enough of the sarcasm; we all know that we haven’t received squat since the
beginning of our wet season (October 1st). And with no rain in sight,
where do we sit with our current drought? Here’s some numbers to ponder:
- Newport Beach: 1.11” so far. Just 17% of normal. Aiming for over 13” by the end of spring…
- Oceanside: 2.67” so far. Just 43% of normal. Aiming for over 13” by the end of spring…
- San Diego: 1.85” so far. Just 39% of normal. Aiming for over 10” by the end of spring…
Now of course this wouldn’t be that big of a deal if every
storm that rolled through here dropped 2” of rain. But considering storms seem
to be sparse this season, we’re headed towards spring, AND storms normally don’t
drop 2” of rain, we’re up a creek without a paddle. That’s if the creek had any
water in it.
PIC OF THE WEEK:
This is me in a nutshell. Off the beaten path to look for
empty surf. Pull up to find out it’s a little more work than I expected. Then
spend the next 30 minutes trying to convince myself it’s not as sketchy as it
looks. Would I paddle out? Of course! You think I want to go home and do
yardwork instead? For more life defining moments, check out Russell’s Ord’s work here.
Keep Surfing,
Michael W. Glenn
Made My 1st Million By Age 12
Birthday Boy
Genie Granted Me 3 Wishes: Surf Like Florence, Empty
Superbank, and Trunks 365 Days A Year. Unfortunately I Now Surf Like
Nightingale, I’m Broke, And I Have An Elephant As A Pet.
