THE Surf Report

 

Here we go...

SURF:

Fun surf last weekend was replaced by April shizzle (showers + drizzle) mid-week and blew out any type of fun surf we could have had. 

The weak low pressure the last few days will hang around Friday but with less wind fortunately and we've got building SSW with a touch of NW the next few days for GOOD surf. The Emergency Boardriding System has been activated (as well as the crowds). A solid storm last week of Antarctica has sent a couple pulses of SSW swell our way and is filling in today. For Friday, look for shoulder high sets in the afternoon and head high sets towards the OC. On Saturday and Sunday, the SSW will be in full swing (with a touch of NW windswell) and we'll see head high+ surf. Most everywhere will have waves so spread out people! And here's the tides, sun, and water temps for the next few days:

• Sunrise and sunset:
• 6:09 AM sunrise (up by 5:30!)
• 7:25 PM sunset (home by 8!)

• Water temps have cooled slightly to the low 60's. Even though we've had S wind which should be pooling up the water in the CA bight, the clouds have had a negative effect...

• And the tides this weekend are back to normal:
• 4' at sunrise
• 5' at 8 AM
• just below 0' after 2 PM
• and back up to 5' at sunset

FORECAST:

We have lingering shoulder high surf on Monday BUT... it looks like there's one last gasp from our N Pacific storm machine and we'll get showers and breezy conditions on Monday- just enough to screw up the surf. 

Tuesday is a transition day and Wednesday we see new SW in the chest high range. 

Charts show another storm taking shape above Hawaii next week and hopefully we'll get chest high WNW from it next weekend- and no rain? 

We also have a better SSW taking shape which would arrive late next week and last through the weekend with more shoulder high surf. Looking fun the next 7 days (expect for those late season cold fronts)!

WEATHER:

Just when I thought we were on track for sunny skies from here on out, Mother Nature on Earth Day of all days, throws a monkey wrench into my plans. As mentioned above, we have one last cool day on Friday before sunny skies prevail on Saturday with temps in the high 60's. Sunday starts off nice then the breeze/clouds kick in late in the day and we're back to showers on Monday and possibly Tuesday. The 2nd half of next week looks to be sunny and slightly warmer- finally. If anything changes between now and then, make sure to check out North County Surf on Twitter!

BEST BET:

Friday to Sunday with good SSW and a touch of NW. Or mid-week with new SW and better SSW/NW next weekend! Pray the shizzle is gone by then! 

NEWS OF THE WEEK:

In honor of Earth Day, here's 10 weird facts to remind you why this big blue marble is awesome (compliments of Popular Mechanics):

1. Earth's Core Is as Hot as the Sun's Surface: "Within uncertainty, the temperature at the center of the Earth is the same as the temperature at the surface of the sun (5800 K)," Caltech geochemist Paul Asimow tells Popular Mechanics. At about almost 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, that's hot.
2. Earth Is Radioactive: In total, Earth generates as much as 40 terawatts of heat, half of which comes from radioactive decay in its core, according to a 2011 study. Scientists measured particles called antineutrinos that streamed up from Earth's core and found that half of Earth's heat is generated through the radioactive decay of certain elements. Tom Crafford, a Mineral Resources Program Coordinator at the U.S. Geological Survey tells Popular Mechanics: “Most of the internal heat that keeps Earth a living, vibrant planet comes from the radioactive breakdown of elements like thorium, uranium and potassium."
3. Life Below the Seafloor: "The sediments underlying Earth's oceans are home to approximately 2.9 x 10^29 microorganisms, existing at depths as great as 2.5 km below the seafloor. The majority of this deep subseafloor biosphere grows extremely slowly relative to life in the surface world, with estimates of cell division once every 10-1000+ years." Caltech's geobiologist Victoria Orphan tells Popular Mechanics. Scientists are finding new sources of microbial life deeper and deeper below the seafloor than ever before. In March, a team of scientists revealed that they had found traces of bacteria (try 10 billion bacterial cells) in rocks 400 feet below the seafloor—deeper than ever before.
4. Days Are Getting Longer: "The tides are the small differences between the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun and the centrifugal forces in the opposite directions. The tides on Earth are strongest when the three bodies are in a line, which happens near full Moon and new Moon. Then the Earth is being stretched out along that line," says Ingersoll. "The ocean responds the most, but even the solid Earth responds to the tidal forces," he says. "The response consists of water moving in the oceans and rocks moving underground, both of which dissipate kinetic energy. The net result is that the Earth is spinning down—the day is getting longer."
5. Earthquake Weather Is a Myth: "Each culture has a its own version of 'earthquake weather' to rationalize when and where a earthquake will hit," seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones of Caltech tells Popular Mechanics. "Earthquakes are below the surface and need a constant fault to happen and this has nothing to do with weather."
6. Seas Could Rise 2.5 Feet By 2100: "We are headed toward a two-foot sea level rise by the end of this century," climate scientist Tapio Schneider of Caltech tells Popular Mechanics. "Consequences from a one to two-foot sea level rise could mean severe threats to low-lying island nations, loss of narrow, shallow beaches, and a demise of marine ecosystems."
7. Clouds Help Regulate Earth's Temperature: "If you bring all water droplets in clouds to the surface, you would cover Earth with a liquid film no thicker than a human hair," Schneider of Caltech tells Popular Mechanics. "And yet, this tiny amount of water makes the difference between cool overcast summer days and warm clear days. And it is immensely important for climate. On average, clouds cool Earth by 13 F relative to what global temperatures would be without clouds." "How much global warming we get crucially depends on whether we get more or fewer clouds as the climate warms," Schneider says. "Climate models do not agree on the answer, because simulating clouds and the tiny amount of water in them is hard. At Caltech, we are working on using AI to make climate models and their cloud simulations better, to get more precise answers about how climate will change."
8. We Don't Know Who "Named" the Earth: Unlike other planets, no real historical data can be found on the person (or group) that named our planet "Earth." The term Earth comes from Old English and High Germanic and is the only planet not named after a Greek or Roman god.
9. Route 66 Is Longer Than the Distance to the Earth's Core: "The boundary between Earth’s mantle and core is roughly 3000 km below our feet—a little less than the total length of America’s ‘Mother Road’, Route 66.," seismologist Jennifer Jackson of Caltech tells Popular Mechanics. "Thought to be a simple interface between solid rocks and liquid iron-rich metal, this remote region is almost as complex as Earth’s surface." "Impossible to reach in person, geophysical and experimental studies of this distant region reveal a fascinating landscape of chemical and structural complexity that influence what's happening on Earth’s surface," Jackson says. "For example, the complex dynamics of Earth’s core-mantle boundary affects Earth’s protective geomagnetic field and the motion of tectonic plates."
10. A Magnitude 12 Earthquake Would Split the Earth in Half: "We’ve never seen anything larger than 9.5 and it was longer than the state of California," says Jones. "It would be theoretically impossible to have a magnitude 13 earthquake since it would require a fault bigger than the Earth."

PIC OF THE WEEK:

Lake Michigan going off! (Or at least that's what the guy said who sold me the photo).  

Keep Surfing, 
Michael W. Glenn
In The Zone
Atari 2600 Gamer
Did A PSA For The ASP About the PSAA