Tuesday, May 30, 2006 | Today is a small day for surf along the California coast. That will change by week’s end though when our next SW swell hits the coast.
Right now, the California Buoy is checking in at 4 feet with very short 7-second periods. Closer to the coast, the Half Moon Bay buoy is at 5 feet with 6-second periods and Cape San Martin buoy is at 8 feet with 7-second periods.
NW periods are running 6-9 seconds from a steep 320 degrees, and a touch of SW is coming through with periods running 16 seconds from 185.
In SoCal, most west-facing breaks are checking in with waist high surf. South facing breaks are running knee to waist high.
Northern California and the Central Coast are seeing knee to waist high surf most everywhere.
The tide is still an issue over the next few days as we’re slowly recuperating from a radical tidal swing from a recent New Moon. This spring tide is bringing extreme negative lows during early AM sessions. During and near these negative lows, many breaks, especially the reefs and points, can expect some dampening of incoming swell energy. Look for improvement in size during the incoming mid-tidal hours.
Water temperatures are averaging 66 degrees in San Diego, 66 in Orange County, 62 in LA, 59 in Ventura County, 59 in Santa Barbara, 51 along the central coast, and 51 in NCal.
Winds as of 6:00 this morning were light and variable in SoCal but as high as 15 mph from the west in NCal. Afternoon onshores are expected to reach 15 mph this afternoon. Gradients are now trending…more
Significant southerly swell due Friday…more
Wind swell builds Sunday…more
Some SW continues into next week…more
State of the Surf report for the summer of 2006…more