Thursday, April 26, 2007 | Today NW swell is up along the California coast, the onshore flow has increased, an eddy has picked up and we have a receding tide throughout the morning. This swell will peak today with some smaller surf over the near term. We are still on track though for that southern hemi swell on the 4th-5th.
Right now, the California Buoy is checking in at 10 feet with 12-second periods. Closer to the coast, the Half Moon Bay buoy at 13 feet with ground-swell-long 17-second periods, and the Cape San Martin buoy is at 11 feet with 16-second periods.
Overall, the predominant swell energy in the water shows NW periods averaging 16 seconds from 290 degrees. There is also wind swell though from 305 with periods as short as 10-seconds, making today’s swell not as clean as it could be.
Please note also that the long periods in the ground swell portion of today’s surf will make for variation in size between breaks of…[more]
Additionally, this swell’s long periods combined with some of the wind swell consistency can produce some deceiving lulls at times; many waves may look surfable, while every now and then bigger waves could roll in. This swell will also inevitably increase the risk of riptides, especially during the outgoing tide this morning at west facing breaks, and alongshore currents are a concern as well. The NWS has also issued highi surf, riptide and coastal flood warnings. Caution is advised.
In SoCal, wave heights are running head high at most west facing breaks, 2-3+ feet overhead at times at standouts. South facing breaks are running chest high, bigger though at SW exposed spots.
Northern California and the Central Coast are seeing sets running DOH around west facing breaks with face heights reaching 15 feet at standout west facing breaks. South facing spots are running head high.
The tide is receding throughout the morning to near-zero lows early afternoon over the next few days. With today’s swell, this will increase the risk of riptides further throughout the morning. Also, our next lunar event…[more]
Water temperatures are averaging 59 degrees in San Diego, 59 in Orange County, 57 in LA, 55 in Ventura County, 55 in Santa Barbara, 53 along the Central Coast and 50 degrees in NCal.
Winds as of 7:00 this morning were light but all over the map. The onshore push with northerly gradients has stirred up a coastal eddy, evident in SD with southerlies to 12 mph, and in OC with southerlies around 5-8. Farther north there were NW and westerly winds reported in many locations from 5-10 mph. Afternoon onshores are expected to reach 10-15 mph, and then become a bit stronger towards evening. On Friday…[more]
NW begins backing down Friday…[more]
SW on the way for 4th-5th…[more]