Friday, July 29, 2011

THE Surf Report 7/28/11


Back on track.
 
SURF:
Nothing much these past few days. Just some small NW windswell with average beach weather. Water was still warm though at 70. Fortunately a new small SW started to show last night and beaches in far north SD and the OC had some chest high sets by sundown. Today it’s filled in a bit further and we have inconsistent shoulder high sets around town with head high+ sets the closer you get to the OC. Nothing firing but lots of fun waves and good weather is on tap later. We also have some small knee high NW windswell trying to peak up the beach breaks a tad.

Those swells peak today and drop slightly Saturday. We actually get another boost from the SW on Sunday for shoulder high waves in north county SD and overhead sets in the OC. Low clouds should burn off mid-morning and the water is still a summer-like 70 degrees. Looks like a fun weekend for surf. Tides the next few days are 1’ at sunrise, 4.5’ at 10am, down slightly to 2’ at 3pm, and back up to 6’ at sunset. Make sure to keep up to date on the swells and conditions at Twitter/North County Surf. 

FORECAST:

After a fun weekend of surf, we get a continuation of fun SW swell on Monday then it backs off for a few days. Mid-week should have some rideable waist high+ surf (better sets in the OC) from some background SW swell. Luckily the southern hemisphere has been active and is sending more swells our way. Looks like next weekend we should get more SW swell (shoulder high) along with small waist high NW windswell and possibly a slightly bigger SW swell around the 10th of August. Pretty much expect SW swells off and on every 5-7 days. Just enough to keep the stoke alive and the job, family, and bills at bay. The US Open in HB this week should have contestable surf- and especially for the finals next weekend. Should be fun to watch. On a side note, we’ve got a little group of clouds of the coast of central America trying to form. Nothing too exciting- and considering the other hurricanes this season haven’t sent us any surf- I’m not holding my breath. Make sure to keep up to date though at Twitter/North County Surf for any late breaking developments.
 
WEATHER:

Even with the low clouds in the nights and mornings this past week (along with cool beach temps in the low to mid-70’s), it’s been WAAAAY better than last summer. If you’ll remember (or have been trying to forget) the majority of days were overcast, cool, and water temps in the mid-60’s. AND the surfed sucked. It was like having wisdom teeth pulled. Fortunately that weather pattern is over until the next ice age and we’ve got great summer weather on tap this weekend. We’ve got high pressure over the 4 Corners region setting up today which will lessen the clouds in the mornings, increase our temps to the mid-high 70’s, and add some humidity to the air- maybe even have some ‘tropical’ clouds drift overhead by Sunday- or at least explode into thunderstorms over the local mountains and deserts. That scenario should last until mid-week then we cool off slightly again towards next weekend.

BEST BET:
I’m calling Sunday. As the weather kicks into high gear and that new fun SW shows up, that looks to be the day. So take the kids to soccer Saturday and mow the lawn ASAP because you have a date with some rippable wedges. Break out the boardies!

NEWS OF THE WEEK:

Ok, ok, ok- so we’ve got a couple small clusters of clouds off central America/Mainland Mex that may or may not amount to anything. At this point in time we’ve had 4 hurricanes form this year-

1. Adrian around the 2nd week of June. A category 4 hurricane with winds in the 130-155 mph range
2. Beatriz around the 3rd week of June. A category 1 hurricane with winds in the 75-95 mph range.
3. Calvin around the 2nd week of July. A category 1 hurricane with winds in the 75-95 mph range.
4. And Dora a couple weeks ago. A category 4 hurricane with winds in the 130-155 mph range.

And as you know- all of them unfortunately died out before they came around the corner of the Baja peninsula and didn’t send any waves our way. But not is all lost. Seems like we’ve had a little more action this season compared to last year. If you look at the first 4 storms of 2010:

1. Agatha at the end of May. Only a tropical storm with winds about 45 mph.
2. Blas around the 2nd week of June. Only a tropical storm again with winds about 45 mph.
3. Celia at the end of June. A strong category 5 hurricane with winds over 155 mph.
4. Darby at the end of June also. A category 3 hurricane with winds in the 110-130 range.

So what am I getting at you ask? Well last year was all over the map- we had a storm forming at the end of May (really early) and a strong category 5 hurricane in Celia in June. This year it’s been consistent- all 4 storms we’ve had have been hurricanes and they’ve been chugging along on a set timeline- 2 in June and 2 in July. Even though we haven’t had surf from them, I’m hoping the consistency keeps up as we head into the peak of the season in August so we get more predictable surf- if there is such a thing. If everything goes according to the 2011 plan, those little clusters of clouds should at keast form into 1 hurricane the 1st week of August. Keep your fingers crossed!

BEST OF THE BLOG:
In case you haven’t seen what all the fuss was about, check out Kelly and the boys owning massive Cloudbreak a couple weeks ago. Or wondering what’s taking so long to get the massive 44 acre Encinitas Community Park (i.e. the Hall Property) up and running? Or how about a mid-week surf check? Then mosey on over to the blow below!

PIC OF THE WEEK:

I love regional surf mags. Like France’s Trip Surf. Or Drift from the UK. Or the legendary Surfing World from Oz. And I have to mention Zig Zag from the land of Jordy, Pottz, and Shaun. Even though today’s shot isn’t from South Africa, they do know how to take shots of Indo. For more great shots, check out Zig Zag here.

Keep Surfing,


Michael W. Glenn
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