Christmas has come early.
SURF:
Not too shabby this past week. Good NW groundswell, some smaller SW groundswell underneath, and great weather. Most spots up and down the coast had head high sets with overhead waves in SD. Then things took a turn for the worse today as a weak storm moved in from the N and blew whatever swell we had left to bits. Look for the storm to depart tomorrow with some NW winds and jumbled head high sets+ from the NW. Saturday should be clean with leftover chest high sets from the NW.
FORECAST:
After a fun weekend of surf, the NW holds on Monday then fades by Tuesday. Unfortunately the 2nd half of next week looks to be pretty small- but hey- you're going to be busy on the 25th right? 
WEATHER:
Not a big storm today but it's breezy, cold, showery, and feels like winter. Rainfall totals will probably end up being around 1/3" with this one. Tomorrow should be clear and cold and we start to get a warm up early next week with a possible mild Santa Ana offshore wind event for Christmas. Ahhhh, nothing like Christmas in California. Temps in the high 70's, palm trees swaying, and girls on the beach. No rain in sight for the near future unfortunately.
BEST BET:
Sunday- new NW groundswell and great weather.
NEWS OF THE WEEK:
Next to Christmas, my 2nd favorite day of the year is the Winter Solstice. And it's just 2 days away- December 21st. For those of you not familiar with the Winter Solstice- it's the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. Why does it rank higher than my birthday, October, or even Arbor Day for me? It's because the sun comes up earlier and sets later starting December 22nd. I can see just over the horizon my days of surfing before and after work coming to fruition. The USA Today newspaper shed some light on the subject today:
For people who like turning points, the winter solstice ranks right up there, bringing the end of short days and the return of more sun – ever so slowly. "It's kind of a gut thing. People don't like the dark," says Deborah Byrd, editor in chief of EarthSky.org. "After Christmas, you start to notice that the sun is setting later. Even a few minutes later is such a relief," she says. The winter solstice arrives at 5:11 p.m. on Dec. 21, marking the shortest day of the year. On that day the United States will get just nine hours and 32 minutes of daylight. "Up until winter solstice, the sun is moving southward from day to day. As it approaches solstice its southward march slows down," says Benjamin Burress, an astronomer at the Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland. At the solstice the sun stops going south and pauses, motionless. "Then after solstice, it is again moving northward in the sky each day," he says. Solstice means "stationary sun." The solstice occurs because the Earth is tipped on its axis 23.5 degrees. In the northern hemisphere in the summer, the axis is pointing its most toward the sun on June 21. On that day the most light reaches us and we experience the longest day of the year and warmer temperatures: the summer solstice. The reverse is true on Dec. 21. Then the axis is pointing its most away from the sun, bringing less light and colder temperatures. That is the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. It's the opposite in the southern hemisphere, where Dec. 21 marks the longest day of the year and June 21 the shortest. The midpoints, on March 20 and Sept. 22, are known as the equinoxes. On these days the axis is exactly in between and night and day are the same length, 12 hours. All these dates loom large in myth and folklore. "Culturally, the solstices and equinoxes are typically used to denote either the beginnings of the seasons or the center points of the seasons," as in England, says Rick Kline, with the Spacecraft Planetary Imaging Facility at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. "Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and other holidays have arisen out of the solstices, equinoxes and the midpoints between them," he says. The solstice is regarded by many traditional societies as the turning point of the year and a time of great concern, says Edwin Krupp, director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. It is a "cosmological crisis point, in which the outcome of the coming year would be determined," he says. Many cultures have elaborate rituals at solstice time to ensure the return of the sun. In China the emperor would ascend the Temple of Heaven in Beijing to offer burned sacrifices as an intermediary between heaven and earth, Krupp says. It is no coincidence that Christmas and the solstice occur near each other, he says. "First, we don't really know when Christ was born, it's that simple," says Krupp. The Dec. 25 date was chosen by the church several centuries after the birth of Christ. "It had its antecedents in Rome, which already had a celebration called Dies Natalis Solis Invictus, the Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun," he says. For early peoples, for whom the sun was all light and all warmth, the solstice loomed large. But even for us it's a difficult time. "Between clock-change day and when people take down their Christmas lights, if I can get through that month, then I'm OK," Byrd says.
PIC OF THE WEEK:
To show my gratitude for all the years you've supported THE Surf Report, I'm giving all my loyal readers a 1 week luxury boat trip to Indo! Yes! Seriously. All you have to do is pay for airfare, taxes, tariffs, filing fee, a non-refundable deposit, title, finders fee, and appraisal (not sure on that last one). So really, it's about the same cost as paying for the boat trip yourself. But hey- it's the thought that count this time of year, right?
Keep Surfing,
Michael W. Glenn
Santa is my Wingman
Won a Lifetime Supply of Rice-A-Roni
Coined the Phrase 'Happy Hollowdays'
