The Morning Report
Get the news and information you need to take on the day.
Thursday, May 3, 2007 | Today NW wind and ground swell is building along the California coast. Friday this will make full impact, and some southern hemi will come into the mix as well. Winds though are an issue over the next 48 hours, and an offshore event looks to be headed our way for Sunday — a day with less NW, but still some southern hemi SW. Next week is looking smaller, but a small SW’er is due during the second half of the week.
Right now, the California Buoy is up to 13 feet with 13-second periods, a jump of 8 feet in the past 24 hours. Closer to the coast, the Half Moon Bay buoy is just now starting to climb with size checking in at 9 feet with 11-second periods. The the Cape San Martin buoy (and many buoys farther south) are just now starting to see some of the forerunners of the incoming NW, running 6 feet with long, 16-second periods.
Overall, NW ground swell periods are averaging 14-16 seconds from a steep 305, WNW wind swell is coming in from 280 with sloppy 10-second periods, and a smidgen of SW is coming in from 200 with 12-second periods.
Please note that the long periods in the ground swell portion of the incoming NW swell will make for variation in size between breaks of…[more]
In SoCal, wave heights are running waist high just about everywhere with conditions predominantly poor — fair at best. Some west facing spots are seeing some chest high peaks now and again. Size at west facing spots though will build later in the day.
Northern California and the Central Coast are seeing sets running DOH around west facing breaks. South facing spots are running chest to head high from NW diffraction.
The tide is an issue for early morning sessions as a tidal swing is evident from a Full Moon that peaked Wednesday. This spring tide’s lows could shut down…[more]
Water temperatures are averaging 60 degrees in San Diego, 60 in Orange County, 59 in LA, 58 in Ventura County, 53 in Santa Barbara, 52 along the Central Coast and 51 degrees in NCal.
Winds as of 7:00 this morning were trending onshore from the north. Areas north of Pt. Conception were seeing winds from the WNW at 10-15 mph with gusts along the Central Coast clocking in around 20. In SoCal, some spots were calm though most where 5-8 from the NNE. Winds are expected to increase throughout the morning from the north, becoming westerly in the afternoon to 20 mph. A front — associated with the low stirring up our NW swell — will be passing through the region tonight. On Friday, this will…[more]
SW and NW build Friday…[more]
Wind issues remain in the forecast…[more]
Smaller surf next week…[more]