Some fun surf and then some small wind swell.

Had enough rest?  Man, the surf has been good this winter!  After a little break these past few days we’re looking at a slow start to Wednesday with knee high surf but things pick up in the afternoon.  A new west swell fills in through the afternoon with waves picking up into the waist/chest high range by nightfall.  By Thursday morning surf hits the shoulder/HH range.  The swell peaks midday with HH surf and then starts to back off in the second half of the day.  Chest high surf by nightfall and into Friday morning.  Swell backs off further thru Friday with waist high surf for the second half of the day.  Looks like a low pressure system is moving in Saturday and will bring in a little messy waist high wind swell with it.  Sunday looks like more of the same perhaps a little smaller.  But of course, the next WNW swell will begin to fill in overnight but it’ll be a smaller one this time.  Surf bumps up through the day Monday with size reaching the chest high range by late afternoon.  Size stays about the same for Tuesday with a little better consistency and on into Wed. There’s one more smaller west swell that looks to show up towards the end of the week.  Winter’s not over!

We’ve had some pretty good luck with perfect conditions.  That’s going to change a bit this weekend.  There looks to be a few more clouds with some midday sunshine through the week.  Overnight clouds and fog with daytime temps in the high to mid 60s.  Overnight temps in the mid-50s.  By Saturday a low pressure system will move in and we’re looking at a small chance of showers overnight.  Things clear up for Sunday with a little warming trend over the course of the week.  Winds start offshore and become west in the morning.  Winds remain calm in the evenings and light westerly breezes during the day.  Winds will turn out of the south towards the weekend.  Water temps remain in the low 60s.  With Thursday’s new moon we’re going to see some fairly extreme tides with big high tides in the morning draining out to an extremely low tide by the late afternoon.  Pick your tides wisely…the morning session will be swamped and tidepooling will be good in the afternoons.

Some fun surf, a little inclement weather and some finicky tides await us!

Stay wet SoCal!

Mish

Tides for La Jolla (Scripps Institution Wharf) starting with February 18, 2015.

www.saltwatertides.com

Day        High      Tide  Height   Sunrise    Moon  Time      % Moon

           /Low      Time    Feet    Sunset                    Visible

W   18      Low   2:02 AM     0.6   6:29 AM    Rise  6:03 AM      2

    18     High   8:17 AM     6.3   5:37 PM     Set  5:41 PM

    18      Low   2:54 PM    -1.6

    18     High   9:13 PM     4.9

Th  19      Low   2:49 AM     0.3   6:28 AM    Rise  6:48 AM      0

    19     High   9:02 AM     6.3   5:38 PM     Set  6:51 PM

    19      Low   3:32 PM    -1.4

    19     High   9:51 PM     5.2

F   20      Low   3:37 AM     0.1   6:27 AM    Rise  7:30 AM      1

    20     High   9:48 AM     5.8   5:39 PM     Set  8:00 PM

    20      Low   4:10 PM    -1.0

    20     High  10:31 PM     5.2

Sa  21      Low   4:27 AM     0.1   6:26 AM    Rise  8:12 AM      5

    21     High  10:37 AM     5.2   5:39 PM     Set  9:07 PM

    21      Low   4:50 PM    -0.4

    21     High  11:14 PM     5.2

Su  22      Low   5:23 AM     0.3   6:25 AM    Rise  8:54 AM      11

    22     High  11:30 AM     4.4   5:40 PM     Set 10:12 PM

    22      Low   5:31 PM     0.3

Good sized waves with some wind

Ok, updating the upcoming sizable swell it looks like we’ll be battling wind with this swell so you need to catch the right wind windows to get the best conditions (I guess that’s sort of always the case but…). We’re looking at an overnight N breeze that will be probably putting some bump on the already HH waves from the latest shorter period ground swell we’ve been seeing the last day or so.  There’s still plenty of energy in the water for Monday’s session.  I’d try to catch it early as the winds will pick up again with more HH and slightly OH straight W swell.  Surf will pick up through the second half of the day and overnight. The next swell peaks Tuesday mid-morning.  Size will be in the OH to OH+ range…8-10’ faces in SD, 6-8’ in LA/OC I’m thinking with some slightly bigger sets at the best spots.  Pretty much straight west so lined up and some closeout at the west facing beach breaks.  This swell is fairly short period too so plenty of energy and plenty of waves all day.  The big trick will be the wind. See below for the wind conditions. 

Wednesday things back off but we’ll still see consistent OH+ range waves to kick off the day.  The swell quickly fades to about HH by nightfall.  Thursday will see HH  waves to start the day and the last of the swell will fade quickly through the day to end with some waist/chest high waves by sunset.  Luckily another longer period W groundswell is right there to kick things back into the chest/shoulder range for Friday with some slightly OH sets hitting by nightfall.  Waves remain in the HH range or just slightly smaller for Saturday and Sunday before tapering off into the start of the next week.  There’s a little lull but still more swell generators out there in the N. Pac.  We should have more fun surf on the way!

As I mentioned the wind will be our biggest enemy or our best friend with this next swell.  Monday looks to be a fairly windy day so I’d hit it early as the tide pushes starting at dawn.  Forecast is for some gusty NW winds by midday which will make a bit of a mess of our nice swell. Luckily, it should subside overnight and turn out of the E. This should really help clean things up for the best part of the swell Tues AM.  Winds will turn back out of the W by the afternoon though so again, I’d hit the AM session for the best conditions.  Wednesday the weather pattern starts to change up with slightly calmer winds and patchy AM fog.  The second half of the week looks much more favorable with a bit of NE Santa Ana kicking in.  NE winds from Wed thru Friday and air temps from the high 60s Mon/Tues to the high 70s/low80s for the second half of the week and into the weekend.  Medium low tides at dawn pushing up through the day for a medium high midday and then back down again for another medium low a bit after sunset.  Water temps still at an amazing 60-63 degrees up and down the So Cal coastline. 

Looks to be another fun week of sizable surf! Have fun and stay wet So Cal!

Mish 

Unknown Grom ripping it at a secret N.county spot  Feb. 15, 2010

Tides for La Jolla (Scripps Institution Wharf) starting with February 9, 2015.

www.saltwatertides.com

Day        High      Tide  Height   Sunrise    Moon  Time      % Moon

           /Low      Time    Feet    Sunset                    Visible

M    9     High  12:00 AM     4.1   6:38 AM     Set  9:37 AM      80

     9      Low   6:06 AM     1.6   5:29 PM    Rise 10:48 PM

     9     High  11:46 AM     3.4

     9      Low   5:48 PM     1.2

Tu  10     High  12:41 AM     4.0   6:37 AM     Set 10:12 AM      72

    10      Low   7:17 AM     1.7   5:30 PM    Rise 11:43 PM

    10     High  12:48 PM     2.9

    10      Low   6:20 PM     1.6

W   11     High   1:35 AM     4.1   6:36 AM     Set 10:51 AM      63

    11      Low   8:52 AM     1.6   5:31 PM

    11     High   2:38 PM     2.5

    11      Low   7:12 PM     2.0

Th  12     High   2:47 AM     4.2   6:35 AM    Rise 12:40 AM      53

    12      Low  10:25 AM     1.2   5:32 PM     Set 11:35 AM

    12     High   4:45 PM     2.6

    12      Low   8:55 PM     2.2

F   13     High   4:01 AM     4.5   6:34 AM    Rise  1:37 AM      43

    13      Low  11:30 AM     0.5   5:32 PM     Set 12:23 PM

    13     High   6:02 PM     2.9

    13      Low  10:27 PM     2.2

Nice waves this week and even better waves on the way!

Hola!  Looks like we’ve got some fun and fairly consistent waves out front this week.  A little NW boosting size into the chest/should range for Wednesday and early Thursday.  That tapers off for the second half of Thursday and into the start of Friday.  Midday Friday we should see some west swell fill in and waves jump into the shoulder/HH range for most beaches thru the weekend with size about the same for Saturday and then steadily increasing for Sunday with more consistent HH surf for most of the day.  Even better it looks like late Sunday we’ll start to see another W swell fill in and wave size jumps again into the HH/OH range for Monday.  But I’ve saved the best for last…there’s a nice nugget of a storm that looks to throw some pretty good sized surf right into our window for Tuesday with size bumping up into the OH/DOH range for the day with DOH+ waves on the biggest sets.  This will be a quickie swell with size peaking midday Tuesday straight out of the west.  That means lots of big closeouts but the south and north facing breaks will see a bit more wrapping and hold the shape a little better.  Even though size drops for Wed we’re still looking at well overhead waves to kick off the day as the swell quickly tapers off through the day.  Then it looks like another hearty storm is brewing and should reach us late next week…ooooooooh yeh!  Stay tuned!

Weather wise we’re looking at pretty dense fog for the night and mornings thru the week and into the weekend.  Luckily that means light to no winds for the early morning sessions but tough conditions to see the waves. That should clear up by the time that doozy of a swell hits (Yay for photographers!).  Sunshine by mid/late-morning and air temps in the high 60s with nighttime lows in the high 40s/low 50s along the coast.  Northern Cal is about to get socked with rain but it looks like sunny skies for So Cal!  Tides are fairly extreme through the daylight hours with tonight’s full moon.  High mid-morning sucking out to a negative low tide by mid/late-afternoon.  Water temps are still pretty balmy for February though with low 60s all along the southern coast. 

Looks like we’re ramping up for more juicy swell!  Keep on paddling and stay wet So Cal!

Mish

Another North County 2010 throwback doozy!

Dr. Andy Chang Jan. 24, 2010

Tides for La Jolla (Scripps Institution Wharf) starting with February 4, 2015.

www.saltwatertides.com
Day        High      Tide  Height   Sunrise    Moon  Time      % Moon

           /Low      Time    Feet    Sunset                    Visible

W    4      Low   2:51 AM     1.3   6:42 AM     Set  6:52 AM      99

     4     High   8:58 AM     5.4   5:24 PM    Rise  6:23 PM

     4      Low   3:38 PM    -0.6

     4     High  10:00 PM     4.1

Th   5      Low   3:24 AM     1.3   6:41 AM     Set  7:26 AM      99

     5     High   9:29 AM     5.2   5:25 PM    Rise  7:16 PM

     5      Low   4:04 PM    -0.3

     5     High  10:27 PM     4.2

F    6      Low   3:57 AM     1.4   6:40 AM     Set  7:59 AM      96

     6     High   9:59 AM     4.9   5:26 PM    Rise  8:08 PM

     6      Low   4:30 PM     0.0

     6     High  10:56 PM     4.2

Sa   7      Low   4:34 AM     1.4   6:40 AM     Set  8:31 AM      92

     7     High  10:31 AM     4.5   5:27 PM    Rise  9:01 PM

     7      Low   4:56 PM     0.4

     7     High  11:26 PM     4.1

Su   8      Low   5:15 AM     1.6   6:39 AM     Set  9:03 AM      87

     8     High  11:05 AM     4.0   5:28 PM    Rise  9:54 PM

     8      Low   5:21 PM     0.8