THE Surf Report

 

Smiles For Miles

SURF:

Nothing makes me happier than a week of surf. And winning the lottery. And Zingers (the cheap dessert and also the funny one liners). And my family! Almost forgot to say that. But back to the surf. 

Wasn't that a lot of fun the past few days. Heaps of surf, a clean window here and there, and empty lineups if you knew where to look. For Friday into the weekend, no major swells but still some rideable waves. Look for waist high NW/SW with chest high sets at the best spots. And clean weather. And here's the tides, sun, and water temps for the next few days:

• Sunrise and sunset:
• 7:05 AM sunrise
• 5:59 PM sunset
• And remember, next Saturday night November 6th, set your clocks back. Sun will rise Sunday morning at 6:12 AM and set at 4:52 PM. Hello again dawn patrols! 

• Water temps are in the low 60's.

• And here are the tides this weekend:
  • 3' at sunrise
  • 5.5' late morning
  • down to 0.5' towards sunset

FORECAST:

Small and fun combo swell this weekend will be replaced by fun/good NW next week. 

Monday starts off small but late in the day into Tuesday we'll see a fun chest high+ NW with head high sets in SD. 

By next Friday, models show another NW headed our way from the Aleutians which should give us shoulder high surf in N County SD and slightly overhead sets in SD. 

The OC next weekend may see small waist high+ SW too. Further out, the N Pacific looks active and we should see at least a couple more NW swells the week of 11/7. Glad to see all this surf in SD County after a pretty boring summer. 

WEATHER:

So where do we stand on this early start to our rainy season? Here's the latest:

• LAX: 0.46" so far. Normal is 0.37". 124% above average
• Newport Beach: 0.79" so far. Normal is 0.45". 176% above average
• Oceanside: 1.57" so far. Normal is 0.54". 291% above average
• San Diego: 1.01" so far. Normal is 0.41". 246% above average

Our goal of course is to be above 10" for the season and 15" would help ease the drought (not erase it, but ease it), so you can see we got a long way to go. BUT... our wettest months are December through March, so we're doing good. 

As far as the near future goes, 1 more day of great weather on Saturday, then a weak cold front passes by to the N this weekend and we're back to low clouds/fog in the nights/mornings for Sunday/Monday. High pressure is forecasted for the 2nd half of next week with mild temps and sunnier skies. If anything changes between now and then, make sure to follow North County Surf on Twitter!

BEST BET:

Tuesday with fun NW or next Friday with better NW. 

NEWS OF THE WEEK:

As wave pools continue to pop up along the countryside and make our hunt for waves easier, there's just one thing I still have a problem with. Not a big problem mind you- I'm a big fan of wave pools. I guess my 'suggestion' would be to make them more like the ocean. You know, flip a switch and turn the wind from onshore to offshore. Or if the Pacific NW is your thing, make the water go from 70 to 40. Heck- even use saltwater instead of freshwater. But that's just a pipe dream, right? Not if you're the Scripps Institute of Oceanography studying climate change. Here's Wired Magazine to elaborate...

Just a short walk from the sea at San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, researchers are putting the finishing touches on a remarkable feat of engineering: an indoor ocean. Stretching 120 feet in this cavernous building, the 32,000-gallon concrete tank is topped with huge ducts that blast 60-mph winds across seawater piped in straight from the Pacific. At one end of the machine, a paddle pushes waves, creating a roiling surface. It’s all lit with natural photons pouring in from conical overhead skylights that look like rocket engines. 

This is the Scripps Ocean Atmosphere Research Simulator, or Soars, a customizable ecosystem for scientists to better understand how the seas are transforming under the burden of climate change. It’s currently undergoing trials, with an official opening slated for next summer. When Soars opens, there will be nothing else like it in the world. If you’re a researcher interested in studying the Arctic Sea, you can form sea ice by switching the simulator into polar mode, which drops the water temperature to 34 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind to –2 degrees. Or you can crank the thermostat the other way to simulate climate change. If you’re interested in ocean acidification, you can infuse carbon dioxide into the hermetically sealed simulator and watch what it does to real seawater.

“Imagine it as a giant wave tank with a wind tunnel grafted on top,” says Scripps oceanographer Dale Stokes, co-principal investigator of Soars. “You end up with this natural sort of analog computer—we can turn all these knobs and look at what happens.”

We’ve all heard that three-quarters of Earth is covered with oceans, and that scientists know more about the surface of the moon than they do of the deep sea. But, more urgently, researchers know too little about how the surface of the sea is interacting with the atmosphere—how waves spew particles that eventually form fog and clouds; how skyrocketing carbon-dioxide levels are affecting the organisms floating in the open ocean; and how sea ice might be changing as waters warm. 

It's a complex mixture of chemistry, biology, and physics,” says Scripps oceanographer Grant Deane, co-principal investigator of Soars. “That's one of the things that we've discovered in the last, I would say, 15 years—these complex interactions in this thin layer on the surface of the ocean. And what happens there influences clouds, ice, weather, climate. We have to understand that boundary and the role it plays in the climate.” 

Soars gives oceanographers unprecedented control over these variables. Up until now, scientists could run complex computer climate models to estimate, say, how increasing CO₂ levels might change the chemistry of surface waters. These models are useful, but their resolution is coarse. Because of limited computing power, the models break the ocean up into pixels on the scale of tens to hundreds of kilometers. If scientists tried working on the centimeter scale, they’d be waiting for results for a very long time. With Soars, oceanographers can snake instruments through the walls of the tank and take CO₂ measurements on an extremely fine scale. 

Another option for scientists is going out on a research vessel—but it can run them over $20,000 a day to use a boat, whereas Soars will cost $1,500 to $2,000 a day. Stokes and Deane reckon that, depending on the nature of the research, investigators might need the machine for a few days to a few months. The simulator will be open to any researcher, at Scripps or otherwise. 

Relatively short, simple experiments might involve measuring how wind speeds and wave sizes influence the number of aerosols that fly off the water’s surface. Or someone might want to know how the “albedo” of the ocean changes, meaning how much of the sun’s energy it reflects. As the simulated sea gets rougher, white caps would bounce back much of the sunlight, while calmer, darker waters would absorb more of it and heat up.

A longer and more complex experiment would involve cultivating microbes and plankton—little plants and animals that float at the mercy of currents—and playing with water and air temperatures to see how they react. Or a researcher might fiddle with atmospheric CO2 concentrations, which currently are around 420 parts per million on Earth. “One of the first things we'll do is we'll pump the CO2 up to 600 ppm and see what that does to the organisms,” says Deane. 

What do all of these experiments have in common? Control. Oceanographers can only study the real sea as-is and in the moment. With Soars, they will be able to essentially fast-forward into a world with higher temperatures and CO2 levels. “We can turn these knobs and make very good estimates of what future systems look like,” says Stokes. 

Atmospheric aerosol scientist Paul DeMott of Colorado State University is planning an experiment at Soars next summer in which his team might change temperatures and wind speeds to see how aerosols are generated. He’ll be able to watch the process close up from several vantage points: A gangway over the tank offers a top-down view, and a big aquarium-style window in the control room shows the experiments in cross-section.

For DeMott, Soars provides an ultra-controlled environment where he can isolate aerosols from the water without having to worry about other sources. Scientists can certainly sample aerosols at sea, but they can’t be sure they’re only getting aerosols coming off the patch of water they’re studying—all sorts of atmospheric gunk is also blowing in from land and other parts of the ocean. “So you're getting some kind of an integrated effect when you're making a measurement on the ship, and you aren't necessarily capturing only the nascent emissions that are coming from the ocean,” says DeMott.

Understanding ocean aerosols is critical, because when water forms around them in the atmosphere, they go on to seed clouds. That means the ocean is intimately linked to precipitation on land. Plus, clouds also produce an albedo effect: The bigger and brighter they are, the more of the sun’s energy they reflect back into space, thus cooling the climate. Might changing wind patterns and warmer oceans change how clouds are formed? With Soars, DeMott can play with the variables and see what happens. 

Kimberly Prather, an atmospheric chemist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and co-principal investigator of Soars, has been participating in the simulator's trial runs this fall, and will be running full experiments once it opens. Her work involves cultivating life in the tank, like microbes and phytoplankton, which are the base of the oceanic food web. Little animals known as zooplankton eat these phytoplankton, and bigger fish eat the zooplankton, and so on up the food chain. 

But despite these microbes being tiny, they may have a planetary climate effect. When microbes proliferate in this water, they get very, very gassy. We’re talking a complex cloud of dimethyl sulfide, methanethiol, nitrogen compounds, and more. “They emit gases when they're stressed, they emit gases when they're happy—if you will. They emit gases when they communicate with each other,” says Prather. “They emit gases all the time, and that has never been looked at in the ocean before. That is something that we want to do in this simulator.”

With Soars, Prather now has unprecedented control over the temperatures, turbidity, winds, and atmospheric gas concentrations that could influence how these microbes proliferate, and in turn how their off-gassing influences the atmosphere. “Nobody has done it yet in a systematic manner, to really go after how the ocean is controlling the composition of the atmosphere that's ultimately affecting air quality and health, and the health of our planet,” says Prather. “To me, as an atmospheric scientist, it's shocking that there's this big of a gap.”

The data gathered from Soars experiments about the boundary between air and water can then be used to improve coarser global climate models by plugging this new fine-scale data into them. “To understand all of these as a dynamic evolving system, I think it's going to be a really, really exciting and powerful facility,” says UC Davis atmospheric chemist Christopher Cappa, who’s planning experiments at Soars next summer. “What you get with a facility like this is the ability to really hone in and nail down processes.”

The stakes are astronomical. More than 90 percent of the global warming humans have caused has been absorbed by the oceans; so far, the seas are saving us from ourselves. But scientists desperately need to understand how the oceans themselves are faring, and how changes within them might influence the entire climate. “If we don't wake up, if we don't understand the consequences of our behaviors, we are going to be in a really tight spot,” says Deane. “We already have purchased a certain amount of pain for the future—how much more we purchase depends on what we do now.”

BEST OF THE BLOG:

For those you looking to make a difference in your community or just expand your network, here's a reminder that the North County Board Meeting's Halloween mixer is tomorrow, Friday the 29th at Seaside Reef! Come down from 7-9 AM and check the surf, network, support your community, grab a bite, and as always with our Halloween meeting, wear your ugliest t-shirt. Some of the greatest prizes known to mankind will be given out and it's a great way to kick off the holiday weekend. Look for the tent as always. For more info on the North County Board Meeting, check us out here. See you then! 

PIC OF THE WEEK:

As I work my way towards billionaire status, the first thing I'm NOT going to buy when I get filthy rich is a spaceship. I'm going to buy an island with surf on it. No offense to Richard Branson- he does have a spaceship AND an island- but with all that money, why couldn't he buy one with surf on it?! I'll never understand billionaires. Until I become one of course. 

Keep Surfing, 
Michael W. Glenn
Got It Made In The Shade
I'm The Reason For The Supply Chain Issue
Of Course I'm Dressing Up As Richie 'Skeletor' Collins For Halloween. Duh. 

THE Surf Report

 

The EBS Is On Standby...

SURF:

Nice conditions this past week and a new NW today resulted in rideable surf for north county SD and better waves in south SD (once the tide dropped mid-day). 

That swell drops tomorrow but we've got more new fun NW arriving on Saturday. This looks to be shoulder high+ so I think I'll turn on the Emergency Boardriding System. We have a weak front passing by to the N on Saturday morning too so conditions may be a little iffy but not too bad. By Sunday, we have leftover chest high+ surf and cleaner conditions. And here's the tides, sun, and water temps for the next few days:

• Sunrise and sunset:
• 6:59 AM sunrise
• 6:06 PM sunset

• Water temps are in the mid-60's

• And here are the tides this weekend:
• 3' at sunrise
• 5.5' late morning
• down to 0.5' towards sunset

FORECAST:

After a fun weekend of surf, the waves won't stop as we've got a cornucopia of swells lined up (like that fall reference)? 

We've got a small wait high SW filling in on Monday with chest high sets towards the OC. 

We also have a rapidly increasing NW too for head high sets towards sundown. We should though see deteriorating conditions late in the day (more on that below). On Tuesday, the EBS is blaring with overhead sets from the peaking NW, but conditions will be messy from a passing cold front. Wednesday is cleaner with plenty of leftover head high+ NW and bigger towards SD. 

Late in the week we'll see more waist high+ S (and bigger in the OC) and...

models show more SW/NW swells towards November 7th. So stoked! Hopefully our drought is over (waves AND weather). 

WEATHER:

The 'big' atmospheric river that's all over the news will hit Central Cal late this weekend but not much for us unfortunately. While they'll get upwards of 3", we'll just get 1/4" on Monday. Beggars can't be choosers so I'll take anything this early in the season to help out the drought. Once that departs, look for breezy NW winds on Tuesday and cleaner conditions the 2nd half of next week. If anything changes between now and then, make sure to follow North County Surf on Twitter!

BEST BET:

Saturday with fun NW. Or later Monday with new small SW and building NW. OR... Wednesday with leftover good NW and cleaner conditions. 

NEWS OF THE WEEK:

One thing I learned as a kid is that if the Earth continues to warm, not only will humans be displaced from the changing climate, but so will animals. And that goes for our friends in the sea. Ever notice those Pelagic red crabs washing up on our beaches a few years ago- even as far north as San Francisco? Those are normally found in Baja. That's a LOOOOONG trip for thos lil' critters. Erica Nielsen and Sam Walkes are researchers at UC Davis and posted the following article about the changes we're seeing along our shores:

Land–based heatwaves have a less obvious though equally important sibling: marine heatwaves. In 2013, the largest marine heatwave on record began when an unusually warm mass of water formed in the Gulf of Alaska. By the next summer, the warm water spread south, raising average water temperatures along the United States west coast by 3.6 to 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit (2-4 Celsius). In 2015, a strong El Niño event strengthened the marine heatwave further. 

And so “the Blob,” as oceanographers have dubbed this huge body of warm water, was born. Interestingly, a number of species moved northward to places along the west coast of the U.S. where the water had previously been too cold for them.

We are a marine evolutionary biologist and a marine ecologist, and are currently studying these recent arrivals to the northern California coast. Through our work, we hope to understand what has allowed species to not only move with the Blob, but persist after the water cooled.

WITH WARM WATER CAME NEW SPECIES
The Blob changed weather as well as ocean currents, led to the deaths of thousands of marine mammals and birds, and caused harmful algal blooms. Animals also moved during the years of warm water with the Blob. Species that usually live in more southern, warmer waters expanded their ranges into northern California and Oregon.

Pelagic red crabs, usually found off the Baja California peninsula, washed up by the hundreds on beaches north of San Francisco. Keen naturalists were surprised to find that populations of bright green sunburst anenomes, giant owl limpets and pink volcano barnacles had in some places increased by the hundreds. Ecologists even discovered a new population of angular unicorn snails over 150 miles north of their original range edge.

The Blob was not destined to last forever. It eventually faded away and water temperatures returned to normal.

COOLING TEMPS
Many species that arrived with the Blob didn’t stay within the colder northern waters once the heatwave passed. For example, open water species like the common dolphin followed the warm waters north, then migrated back southward once waters cooled. But many coastal species are sessile—meaning they are stuck to rocks for all their adult lives. But these species are not attached to rocks when they are young. During the early larval stages, they ride ocean currents and can travel dozens of miles to find new coastlines to live on.

The Blob’s warm waters and shifting currents allowed the larvae of many species to move far past their northern boundaries while remaining in their environmental comfort zone. However, when the marine heatwave ended, the real survival test began.

Our team has been tracking these northern coastal populations to see which species have persisted post-Blob. Each year our team returns to the cold, wave-pounded northern California shores to monitor existing populations and look for new recruits—young individuals that survived their larval stage and successfully settled on rocks.

Every year we are excited to find new barnacle, snail and slug recruits. Of the 37 coastal species our team has been tracking, at least five have maintained small but stable northern populations after the warm waters of the Blob disappeared.

WHO GOES FROM NORTHERN TOURIST TO LOCAL?
In addition to monitoring populations, our team is also gathering ecological and evolutionary information about these species. The giant owl limpet is one of the species that has persisted, and we want to identify what traits helped them survive after the Blob ended.

In general, traits that help a species settle in a new environment include the ability to grow and reproduce faster, choose suitable habitats, defend territories or have more offspring. To test some of these ideas, our team is conducting ecological experiments along the California coast, and we are annually recording growth for more than 2,500 individual limpets. We are also experimentally pitting juvenile owl limpets against larger adults and other competing limpet species. We hope that this work will reveal whether the new limpets on the block can grow rapidly while competing with others.

But the ecology is only half of the range expansion story. In tandem with the ecological experiments, our lab is sequencing owl limpet genomes to identify genes that potentially code for traits like faster growth or competitive prowess. It’s possible to figure out on a genetic level what is allowing certain species to survive.

CONSERVING SHIFTING SPECIES IN A CHANGING OCEAN
Considering the effects of ongoing climate change, it is good news that species can move to track their preferred climate. It’s important to note that while species that move due to climate change are not invasive, these shifts can change existing ecosystems. For example, the Hilton’s nudibranch, a predatory sea slug, expanded northward during the Blob, which led to a decline in local nudibranchs.

Research shows that marine heatwaves are becoming more common thanks to climate change. By understanding the ecological and evolutionary attributes that allowed some species to endure and even thrive during and after the Blob, we may be able to predict what will allow species to expand further during future marine heatwaves.

The Blob 2.0 is coming; what changes will it bring?

BEST OF THE BLOG:

It's baaaaaaaack. The world famous North County Board Meeting Halloween mixer that is. Come join the crew next Friday, October 29th to check the surf, network, support your community, grab a bite, and as always with our Halloween meeting, wear your ugliest t-shirt. Prizes will be given out (value less than $5, we're on a budget here) and it's a great way to kick off the weekend. 7 AM start time and wrapping up around 9 AM (depending if the surf is any good). Look for the tent at the entrance to Seaside. See you then! 

PIC OF THE WEEK:

If a wave could speak, this one would say 'Outta my way! Coming through!'

Keep Surfing, 
Michael W. Glenn
Unmistakable
Just Bought The Slightly Used Name Kanye West
I Will NOT Be Surfing Here on Halloween: Phantom's, Boneyards, Ghost Trees, Tombstones, or Dungeons 

THE Surf Report

Put Another Coin In the Weather Machine! 

SURF:

Fired up about the weather yet? Should be- it's been really active around here. Over an inch of rain (when we should only be at 1/10"), over 90 mph wind gusts in the local mountains, 85 degrees at the beaches tomorrow, and more rain before month end?! You don't hear me complaining. But first the surf: 

Plenty of swell the past few days from the NW and SW- along with off and on conditions- gave everyone plenty of waves to ride. For Friday we'll have background SW and a new small NW pulse filling in for more waist high waves with chest high sets. Conditions will be downright dreamy with a mild Santa Ana too. For Saturday, the conditions stay clean but the surf drops to the waist high+ range. And patchy fog returns Sunday with just waist high surf. And here's the tides, sun, and water temps for the next few days:

• Sunrise and sunset:
• 6:55 AM sunrise
• 6:12 PM sunset

• Water temps are in the low 60's thanks to all the NW winds the past week

• And here are the tides this weekend:
• 3' at sunrise
• 5.5' mid-morning
• down to 0.5' mid-afternoon
• and back up to 3' at sunset

FORECAST:

After a slow weekend, models show the Pacific coming to life for the 2nd half of October. 

First in line is a small SW/NW combo Tuesday/Wednesday for chest high surf. 

Following that is a better NW towards Thursday the 21st for chest high+ waves and slightly better in SD.

Forecast charts show another storm in the Aleutians early next week which should give us more fun chest high+ NW around Sunday the 24th and bigger in SD again. 

There's also a chance of small SW around the 25th for waist high+ surf in SD and chest high waves in the OC. 

And farther out, we may get another good SW swell towards Halloween weekend (and more NW?). In summary- no need for the step up yet- but plenty fun the next 2 weeks. 

WEATHER:

Good start to our fall if I say so myself. As our storm departed earlier this week, it left in it's wake a mild Santa Ana for the weekend. Looks like nice weather tomorrow and temps in the low to mid-80's along the coast. Saturday is back to the high 70's and the low clouds return Sunday for temps in the low 70's. The rest of next week looks to be typical fall weather with temps in the high 60's and low clouds. 

In the long range, models hint at more rain showing up the last week of October- which we could use of course. If anything changes between now and then, make sure to follow North County Surf on Twitter!

BEST BET:

Tuesday/Wednesday with small but fun combo swell. Or Thursday with better NW towards SD. Or late next weekend with better NW/SW. OR... good SW/NW towards the end of the month! 

NEWS OF THE WEEK:

With the recent wild fall weather, it seemed like summer never happened. The persistent low clouds, lack of consistent surf, and cooler than average water temps, left me yearning for classic a classic California July/August/September- then the next thing you know- we get rain around here, snow in the western mountains, and strong winds reserved for January. So here we are with a couple rain/wind events already and fall is in just truckin' along. Now of course who knows if this is a sign of things to come- we could get back to back Santa Anas with the snap of our fingers- but it does add excitement in our usual world of low clouds/fog in the nights/mornings. So just how wet and windy was it the past couple weeks? Here's some data to chew on:

• Rainfall (season runs from Oct. 1 to Sep. 30):
  • Newport Beach: 0.40" so far. Normal is 0.08"- 500% of normal
  • Oceanside: 1.35" so far. Normal is 0.11"- 1220% of normal
  • San Diego: 0.80" so far. Normal is 0.08". 1000% of normal

Now when you see something 500% to 1000% of normal, it looks like you should start building an ark. But of course take it with a grain of salt since we're only talking between 0.40 to 1.35" so far. 

As far as those strong winds Monday evening, here's a snapshot across Southern California:

• Top wind gust: Mt. Laguna- 93 mph! That's a category 2 hurricane!
• Anza Borrego: 62 mph
• Laguna Beach: 55 mph
• Palm Springs 53 mph
• Big Bear: 45 mph
• Encinitas: 44 mph
• Carlsbad: 36 mph
• San Clemente: 36 mph

And with models showing more rain towards the end of the month, the awesome weather may continue to keep us on our toes. Keep it up Mother Nature! 

PIC OF THE WEEK:

Here's a scary 'Holloween' photo for you. Think I may wear this as my costume. 

Keep Surfing, 
Michael W. Glenn
One To Watch 2022
Chargers' #1 Fan. For Now. 
Everyone Keeps Telling Me I Should Turn Pro

THE Surf Report

 

Welcome to winter!

SURF:

I decide to hike Montana a few days ago and in return, I miss a kicka$$ storm. So let's just bypass fall and go straight to winter, shall we? What a busy time around here. Lightening, combo swells, above average rainfall, a flat ocean, and windy cold fronts (more on that below). I'm not a fan of that Santa Ana fire weather anyway so this early winter is a blessing. 

Let's get down to business though- great surf last weekend was replaced by small surf and thunderstorms. Southern California's new slogan should be: If the waves don't impress you, the weather will. 

We've got an early season cold front moving down tonight and as it does, more rain will appear, making conditions suspect, and not bring a lot of surf- expect an occasional bumpy chest high set towards SD from the NW. 

Later in the weekend though, we should see some fun chest high SW arrive Sunday afternoon; hopefully the water and weather will be cleaner by then. ON A SIDE NOTE... some tar balls have washed up on the shores of Oceanside and Carlsbad today. Even though they can be naturally occurring, there seems to be an overabundance of them. Make sure to check with your local lifeguards before paddling out this weekend. And here's the tides, sun, and water temps for the next few days:

• Sunrise and sunset:
• 6:49 AM sunrise
• 6:22 PM sunset

• Water temps are hovering in the mid-60's 

• And tides are pretty simple this weekend:
• 2' at sunrise
• 6' at lunch
• 0' at sunset

FORECAST:

Fun southern hemi swell will be peaking Monday with consistent chest high surf and shoulder high sets towards the OC. The storm rolled along off Antarctica for a few days, so we should see at least chest high surf through the week. The only issue though is that we have another cold front moving through late Monday in which this one will be more windy than wet. Look for NW winds late Monday and maybe Tuesday morning which will kick up the NW windswell but crush the SW swell. 

The 2nd half of the week should be cleaner with leftover SW and a touch of steep NW again towards the 15th. 

After that... models show a small storm off New Zealand in a few days which could give us waist to chest high SW around the 18th. 

WEATHER:

Been a fun few weeks around here with all the lightening. Looks like that's subsiding but the rain and wind will be picking up. Look for showers late tonight into Friday with up to 1/3" accumulating. Saturday should be cool and nice while Sunday/Monday has sunny fall weather on tap. Our next storm takes aim late Monday into Tuesday with less rain- maybe 1/10" at most?- and lot of NW wind in the 20 mph range. Local mountains may get a dusting too above 5000'. After that- it's anyone's guess- but I'm assuming we'll have nice weather for the 2nd half of the week. As far our current rain totals go, we're looking great considering it's a La Nina year AND Santa Ana fire season. The rain on Monday dropped 0.6" at the coast, tonight's storm should drop 0.3", and Tuesday's weaker storm may drop 0.1". We could be looking at 1" total for all 3 storms and normal for the season is about 1/2 of that. Take that Drought! If anything changes between now and then, make sure to follow North County Surf on Twitter!

BEST BET:

Monday before the rain starts with peaking SW or later in the week with smaller combo swell once the water cleans up...

NEWS OF THE WEEK:

With the recent shark attack on a surfer in Northern California this past weekend, I thought we'd have a look at the current population of sharks and the chances of getting bitten. According to the California Fish and Wildlife Department, there have been 198 incidents of contact between sharks and people from the 1950s to this August (that's less than 3 a year in 228 miles of coastline). 14 were fatal (as a comparison, there have been 8 deaths from bear attacks in just Yellowstone National Park since 1872), 106 were classified as nonfatal, and there were no injuries in 78 cases. Surfers were involved in 77 of the incidents. According to department statistics, an overwhelming majority of cases, 176, were confirmed or suspected to have involved great white sharks. Even with that said, sharks have evolved over millions of years as an apex predator, and yet, attacks are still low. If they wanted to chase us all day long, trust me, they would. 

Sharks have called the Earth's oceans home for hundreds of millions of years and adapted to thrive in harsh environments. While these animals of the deep blue have evolved to survive cold and dark climates, sharks unfortunately are no match for the ultimate predator- humans. That's why the world famous Shark Week was launched 33 years ago by the Discovery Channel to encourage shark conservation and educate the public on these underwater predators.

The world's shark and ray populations plummeted 70% from 1970 to 2018, with overfishing as a primary cause, according to a 2019 study published in the journal Nature. Of the 31 oceanic species of sharks and rays, 24, or over three-quarters, of the species are now threatened with extinction due to their steep drop in numbers, the study said. With Hollywood blockbusters like "Jaws" and "The Meg" fanning the flames of fear and paranoia in humans, these underwater animals have suffered a serious image problem. But here's some interesting facts you may not know...

One of the most important aspects of sharks is that they balance the food chain. As sharks were killed off from overfishing in the Sea of Cortez, located between Baja California and the Mexican mainland, other creatures swooped in to take their place on the food chain. Wahoo and hammerhead sharks, along with other fish species like marlin and swordfish, have seen a steep decline in population due to commercial and local fishing in the area. Scientists believe the decline in sharks is one of the reasons the Humboldt squid now call the Baja home in greater numbers. The creature can grow up to 7 feet (2.1 meters) long and weigh over 100 pounds (45.4 kilograms). The squid only live for a couple years, but they reproduce at a much faster rate than sharks.

Also, some sharks are partially warm-blooded. Despite having a reputation of being cold-blooded, some sharks- like the great white and the salmon shark- are able to internally regulate their temperature, according to a June study published by the British Ecological Society. The study found endothermic fish, which are able to regulate their own body temperature, swam over one-and-a-half times faster than ectotherms, animals that rely on the outside temperature to regulate their body heat. Researchers weren't able to make any conclusions on how the warm-bloodedness could be helpful to sharks, but they hypothesized that it could help them when searching for food or migrating.

Sharks also tend to have one of the longest life spans of creatures in the animal kingdom. Using radiocarbon dating to estimate how old Greenland sharks were for a 2016 study, researchers discovered the underwater creatures lived to be at least 272 years old, with the largest of the group clocking in at around 392 years old. The animals don't reach maturity until the ripe age of 150 years old, and they are the longest-lived vertebrate known to humans.

Some can even glow in the dark.  A small number of sharks are bioluminescent and glow hundreds of feet below the ocean's surface, according to a February study published in Frontiers in Marine Science. One of the sharks is the kitefin shark (Dalatias licha), which spans nearly 6 feet (1.8 meters). It's also the world's largest known bioluminescent shark. Very little is known about sharks that glow because the sharks mostly roam in the deep sea, which begins over 656 feet (200 meters) below the ocean surface. Researchers also discovered the southern lanternshark (Etmopterus granulosus) and blackbelly lanternshark (Etmopterus lucifer) have bioluminescent abilities.

Sharks nearly went extinct millions of years ago- despite having the reputation as an apex predator, sharks died off at alarming rates millions of years ago. Over 90% of open-ocean sharks disappeared from the planet around 19 million years ago, scientists said. Researchers said they could not confirm what caused the near-mass extinction event, and it could have lasted from a single day to 100,000 years. Based on current research, there was no climate or ecosystem crisis during this time, which leaves a gaping hole of knowledge for scientists to do more research on and unlock the mystery.

PIC OF THE WEEK:

Would you travel all the way to Italy for the great food or this? If you consider yourself a true surfer, I already know what your answer is. And you can still enjoy a great meal after a long session. 

Keep Surfing, 
Michael W. Glenn
The Power That Be
Guess Who Has The Winning Powerball Ticket
Making A Wave Pool For The Common Man That Has Closeouts, Backwash, & Wind Slop