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