SURF:
BIG event tonight (more on that below) so I had to get the Report out early. Lots to talk about today so let's get started:
El Nino is here! (Depending on where you live). Hope you drove to Orange County last Sunday, because if you did... you scored. For us down here in SD, a big nothing burger. Not that we didn't have fun with the constant rain and brief wind, it just would have been nice to see some Tropical Storm Hilary surf. Once she moved N on Monday, she left small surf, sunny skies, and dirty water. Today we see peaking SW swell for chest high sets in far N County SD and shoulder high waves in the OC.
In regards to the weekend, we have reinforcing S swell for waist high+ surf in SD and shoulder high sets in the OC. And here are the tides, sun, and water temps for this weekend:
- Sunrise and sunset this weekend:
- 6:19 AM sunrise
- 7:21 PM sunset
- Water temps:
- Constant NW wind this summer and upwelling from Hilary has resulted in water temps most everywhere from 63-65; about 10-15 degrees colder than what I expected this 'El Nino' summer. We still could warm up the mid-70's again, but we're starting to run out of time...
- And tides are funky for the weekend::
- 3' at sunrise
- 3.5' mid-morning
- down to 2.5' at lunch
- up to 6' at 6 PM
- and down to 5' at sunset
FORECAST:
Got a couple areas of clouds off Mainland Mexico that could form into our next hurricane(s). If so, models show it being in our swell window but not potentially big. If so, look for some waist high S swell by mid-week with the OC going slightly bigger.
Not much for late in the week but models are hinting storm activity off Antarctica next week which would give us good SSW swell towards the 1st week of September. If anything changes between now and then, make sure to follow North County Surf on Twitter.
WEATHER:
2" of rain in August is nothing to sneeze at. In fact, it's unheard of (more on that in the NEWS section). Anything to keep the wildfires away in October. For the weekend an beyond, looks like we'll have a few days of low clouds/fog in the nights/mornings, then we're back to mostly sunny skies and warmer temps: Here's what the upcoming week looks like:
- Friday-Sunday: Cool temps and a bit of low clouds- should see sun after lunch. Temps 70-65
- Monday through Thursday: Mostly sunny skies and warmer temps- 80-70.
- Next weekend: A return of monsoon moisture for the mountains/deserts and may a stray shower over the inland valleys?...
BEST BET:
Small but fun this weekend or the potential for small but fun hurricane swell around Tuesday...
NEWS OF THE WEEK:
Hilary came and went and pretty much did what the storm was expected to- blustery winds (briefly at the coast, all day in the mountains/deserts), lots of rain (2" at the coast and almost 12" in the mountains), and lots of flooding in the deserts. The El Nino enhanced storm resulted in a few interesting notes:
- Downtown San Diego had received 1.82" of rain from the storm.
- That was the most of any day this year (including rain from winter storms).
- It was also the wettest day for San Diego since 2.34" fell on February 27th, 2017.
- 3 cities received record rainfall for the entire month of August- just with Sunday's rain from Hilary. Here's the record rainfall and previous records for the MONTH in parenthesis:
- Escondido- 2.66" (2.20" in 1945)
- Vista- 2.12" (1.78" in 1977)
- Cuyamaca- 4.11" (4.10" in 1977)
- Various rainfall totals from Hilary around Southern California:
- Mt. San Jacinto 11.74"
- Mt. Laguna 7.11"
- San Marcos 2.66"
- Carlsbad 2.50"
- Encinitas 2.14"
- Fallbrook 3.08"
- Poway 2.09"
- Julian 3.47"
- Ocotillo Wells 1.55"
- Borrego Springs 2.01"
- Huntington Beach 2.09"
- Various peak winds were:
- Black Mountain 84 mph
- Palomar Mountain 79 mph
- Laguna Beach 61 mph
- Cabazon 56 mph
- Lake Arrowhead 54 mph
- Scripps Pier 51 mph
- Camp Pendleton 49 mph
- Palm Springs 48 mph
- Oceanside 40 mph
- As Hilary moved up the coast, warm water surged ahead and the buoy off Hollister Ranch (north of Point Conception) went from 63 degree water to 73 degree water in 3 days.
- As Hilary excited the region, the wind created upwelling and water temps in certain locations in Southern California (here's looking at you La Jolla), briefly hit the high 50's- about 15 degrees colder than normal this time of year.
- The last time a tropical storm hit southern California was September 25th, 1939. Long Beach took a direct hit with 45 deaths due to flooding and 48 deaths at sea. it caused $2 million in damage ($43 million in today's dollars).
- So before Hilary, what was the wettest day on record for August? That title belonged to former Hurricane Doreen on August 17th, 1977 who broke apart before moving into Southern California with abundant moisture in the 1-2" category for various locations.
- Death Valley had its rainiest day ever from Hilary with 2.20" of rain.
- And just when I said our rain was over back in the ol' month of April, we get Hilary to add to our totals:
- LAX: 25.89" so far (normal is 12.12" and expected total for the year is 12.23")
- Newport Beach: 19.93" so far (normal is 11.08" and expected total for the year is 11.18")
- Oceanside: 21.78" so far (normal is 11.72" and expected total for the year is 11.86")
- San Diego: 15.69" so far (normal is 9.67" and expected total for the year is 9.79")
On that note, I promise never to say 'looks like we're done with rain this season'.
BEST OF THE BLOG:
PIC OF THE WEEK:
Am I seeing things or is that 6' lip as big as that 6' barrel? I need to lay off the Mountain Dew.
Keep Surfing,
Michael W. Glenn
Whiz-bang
Bought My VIP Pass To Fyre Festival 2!
Part of the E-town 5.5 (Which Falls Between The 2% Crew & Chapter 11 tv)
Michael W. Glenn
Whiz-bang
Bought My VIP Pass To Fyre Festival 2!
Part of the E-town 5.5 (Which Falls Between The 2% Crew & Chapter 11 tv)
