Thursday, December 8, 2022

THE Surf Report

 


Storm > Surf

SURF:


A little bit of surf earlier in the week has been replaced by sunny skies and a flat ocean. For the upcoming weekend, we get the opposite- building surf but also a building storm. 


On Friday, clean weather hangs around 1 more day and we have a small NNW groundswell filling in for waist high surf and maybe a slightly bigger wave in SD. That peaks on Saturday. 


For Sunday, the storm will be on top of So-Cal and we're due for strong S winds early, switching to W later in the day. Surf will pick up to the head high+ range- but it will be a mess- as well as dirty water. And here's the tides, sun, and water temps for the next few days:
  • Sunrise and sunset for the weekend:
    •  6:40 AM sunrise (6:30 AM paddle out?)
    •  4:43 PM sunset (5 PM paddle in?)
  • Water temps are struggling to stay above 60 
  • And high tides may be an issue this weekend with the impending storm:
    • 4' at sunrise
    • 5.5' mid-morning
    • and dropping to -0.2' at sunset
FORECAST:

Solid wind/groundswell on Monday as the storm exits the region. Look for whitecaps, overhead surf, and the water will probably be a wee bit dirty from the runoff. On Tuesday, the surf will drop to the chest high range and the water will still be contaminated. 


Not much surf mid-week and then models show another storm potentially arriving towards Friday for more waves and wet weather. The storm door is open. Take that La Nina! 

WEATHER:


Nice to see rain headed towards Southern California after the Sierras and Rockies have been getting all of the precipitation from the frozen variety. As mentioned above, we have a good storm moving our way and will increase our cloud cover on Saturday. most of the rain will fall on Sunday with early indications of over 1" along the coast. Monday is a transition day, then the rain may return next weekend. Temperatures for most of the week will struggle to hit 60 and lows at night will be in the mid-40's. Make sure to follow North County Surf on Twitter if anything changes!

BEST BET:

Saturday with small but fun NNW (before the rain starts) or Sunday if you like stormsurf (here's looking at you East Coast transplants) or ditto for next weekend!

NEWS OF THE WEEK:


For being a La Nina year, we sure are lucky to be getting some rain. And is typical this past decade- it's all or nothing. A solid storm in November (1-1.5" along the coast) was replaced by sunny skies and dry conditions. Now a few weeks later, we're due for our next storm- and it's a doozy again with the potential of 1-1.5" along the coast. So with all this rain recently, are we above average? The short answer- we will be. As of today, here's where we stand with our seasonal totals:
  • Newport Beach: 1.71" so far- which is 100% of normal! Last year, they had just 0.80" which was 47% of normal. 
  • Oceanside: 1.84" so far- which is 103% of normal! Last year, they oddly started out fairly well with 1.58", which was 88% of normal. Then it went quickly downhill from there.
  • San Diego: 1.17" so far- which is 73% of normal. Last year at this time, SD had 1.01" which was only 63% of normal.
As you can see, if we get 1-1.5" of rain on Sunday, we'll be well above normal. BUT, as we've seen in the recent past, it may go quiet around here for weeks at a time. Let's think positive though- I really want to turn my sprinklers back on this summer!

BEST OF THE BLOG:


We're just 1 week away from the North County Board Meeting's annual Holiday Party! Thanks to everyone that's reserved a spot so far; and if you haven't yet- time is running out. You just have a couple days to RSVP to this great event benefitting Sea Trees by Sustainable Surf. If you have a passion for the ocean, come join us! We're off to Pacific Coast Spirits in South O'side and if you haven't been there yet, you're missing out; great food, great drinks, and great atmosphere. Here's your chance though: Save the date for Thursday, December 15th from 6 to 9 PM. Cost is just $100 per person and includes, appetizers, dinner, and 2 drinks. To secure your ticket, reach out this week to either:
In addition to celebrating the holidays at Pacific Coast Spirits, we'll be having a live auction to benefit Sea Trees- so get ready to battle it out for some great holiday gifts. 

Thank you for your support as always and we'll see you next week on December 15th!

PIC OF THE WEEK:


Europe is so hot right now. Take the World Cup for instance. With 8 teams left, 5 of them are from Europe! And don't even get me started on Harry Styles. As far as the surf goes, how many rideable spots do you count in this pic?! No wonder everyone I know is moving to Portugal. 

Keep Surfing, 
Michael W. Glenn
Indispensable
Tell Santa I've Been Mostly Good This Year
My Goal Is To Do THE Surf Report Until I'm 100
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