I’m on Candid Camera, right?
SURF:
I’m starting to believe that Neptune (or Poseidon depending on your religion) is playing a practical joke on us. For the past 2 months, it’s been impossible to find a head high wave around here. And I’m not talking about storm surf either. I’m talking about a good ol’ fashion groundswell from the Aleutians or southern hemisphere. Maybe it’s not their fault. Maybe I’m the one to blame since I bought a step-up at the end of January. Gasp! Maybe I have some power over the universe that I’m not aware of. Like how my good looks are a blessing AND a curse.
FORECAST:
After a bumpy weekend, we get a little push from the NW late on Monday for shoulder high sets in SD and chest high in north county by Tuesday morning. The weather should be clean by then. After that things really slow down with just waist high SW most of the week and a touch of NW.
WEATHER:
We may be looking at our last real storm of the season today. LA/Santa Barbara is getting the brunt of it with 3+” of rain forecasted through Saturday morning. The OC should see 2+” and SD at most 1” today. Saturday is a transition day at the storm exits the region and Sunday we’ll see a smaller system skirt by to the north with maybe a chance of light showers here. High pressure looks to be in charge next week with sunny skies and temps in the high 60’s.
BEST BET:
Late Monday/early Tuesday with fun, rideable, clean NW.
NEWS OF THE WEEK:
One weather phenomenon that I find fascinating but don’t have much firsthand experience with (thankfully) is lightning. There’s a small chance this weekend from the incoming storm but most of the time you need a stark contrast between two air masses (i.e. hot and cold). In technical terms, lightning is an electrical discharge caused by imbalances between storm clouds and the ground, or within the clouds themselves. I’ll let the pros at National Geographic take it from here:
Most lightning occurs within the clouds. "Sheet lightning" describes a distant bolt that lights up an entire cloud base. Other visible bolts may appear as bead, ribbon, or rocket lightning. During a storm, colliding particles of rain, ice, or snow inside storm clouds increase the imbalance between storm clouds and the ground, and often negatively charge the lower reaches of storm clouds. Objects on the ground, like steeples, trees, and the Earth itself, become positively charged—creating an imbalance that nature seeks to remedy by passing current between the two charges.
Lightning is extremely hot—a flash can heat the air around it to temperatures five times hotter than the sun’s surface. This heat causes surrounding air to rapidly expand and vibrate, which creates the pealing thunder we hear a short time after seeing a lightning flash.
TYPES OF LIGHTNING
Cloud-to-ground lightning bolts are a common phenomenon—about 100 strike Earth’s surface every single second—yet their power is extraordinary. Each bolt can contain up to one billion volts of electricity. A typical cloud-to-ground lightning bolt begins when a step-like series of negative charges, called a stepped leader, races downward from the bottom of a storm cloud toward the Earth along a channel at about 200,000 mph. Each of these segments is about 150 feet long. When the lowermost step comes within 150 feet of a positively charged object, it is met by a climbing surge of positive electricity, called a streamer, which can rise up through a building, a tree, or even a person.
When the two connect, an electrical current flows as negative charges fly down the channel towards earth and a visible flash of lightning streaks upward at some 200,000,000 mph, transferring electricity as lightning in the process. Some types of lightning, including the most common types, never leave the clouds but travel between differently charged areas within or between clouds. Other rare forms can be sparked by extreme forest fires, volcanic eruptions, and snowstorms. Ball lightning, a small, charged sphere that floats, glows, and bounces along oblivious to the laws of gravity or physics, still puzzles scientists. About one to 20 cloud-to-ground lightning bolts is "positive lightning," a type that originates in the positively charged tops of storm clouds. These strikes reverse the charge flow of typical lightning bolts and are far stronger and more destructive. Positive lightning can stretch across the sky and strike "out of the blue" more than 10 miles from the storm cloud where it was born.
THE IMPACT OF A LIGHTNING STRIKE
Lightning is not only spectacular, it’s dangerous. About 2,000 people are killed worldwide by lightning each year. Hundreds more survive strikes but suffer from a variety of lasting symptoms, including memory loss, dizziness, weakness, numbness, and other life-altering ailments. Strikes can cause cardiac arrest and severe burns, but 9 of every 10 people survive. The average American has about a 1 in 5,000 chance of being struck by lightning during a lifetime. Lightning's extreme heat will vaporize the water inside a tree, creating steam that may blow the tree apart. Cars are havens from lightning—but not for the reason that most believe. Tires conduct current, as do metal frames that carry a charge harmlessly to the ground. Many houses are grounded by rods and other protection that conduct a lightning bolt's electricity harmlessly to the ground. Homes may also be inadvertently grounded by plumbing, gutters, or other materials. Grounded buildings offer protection, but occupants who touch running water or use a landline phone may be shocked by conducted electricity.
So even though lightning isn’t too common in the Southern California coastal communities, make sure to head out our local mountains and deserts this summer when the thunderstorms flair up. And watch from a safe distance of course.
PIC OF THE WEEK:
Sure there hasn't been much surf around here lately but that doesn't mean you can't go out and explore for waves does it? Happy hunting.
Keep Surfing,
Michael W. Glenn
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