Sunday, September 20, 2020

FIRST BIG NW SWELL MID TO LATE NEXT WEEK

 Tracking a big storm system with a dynamic fetch moving out of the Bering Sea and into the Gulf of Alaska this morning.  Dynamic fetch means the storm wind & swell are moving in the same direction which usually leads to large wave heights.  Models are forecasting deepwater swell of 14ft at 15 seconds starting Thursday.   Still a bit early, but will dial in more closely over the next 48 hours.  I've added a new buoy to the forecast links - Gulf of Alaska Buoy.   Note that West Oregon and Papa Buoys remain offline and need to be repositioned by NOAA once they are back on the schedule.  That means the CA Buoy will be our outer water buoy for the start to the season.   The Gulf of AK buoy will give a sense of ocean swell far out in the N Pac.  Generally small swell until mid week - perhaps a slight increase in wind swell over the next few days and very small south in the background.  Winds look variable depending on fog intrusion and ongoing high pressure vs low pressure in our region.   Southwest to northwest depending on your location.   

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

UPDATED FORECAST SEPT 15

 New mid period Gulf of AK swell filling in slowly this am - buoys are showing 4-6ft at 11 seconds of deepwater swell.  This one will peak overnight and begin a slow fade through the week.  Winds look to remain mostly light through the week - don't see an uptick until the weekend with offshore and/or northwest flow gets going as low pressure moves into the Great Basin and we get those winds rushing from low pressure to high pressure.  Gonna stay sort of small all week.  Starting to see more signs of N Pac swell late in September as well as tracking a few more southwest swells.  We may close out the month with some decent surf.  More to come on that.  Cya in the water.  

Tuesday, September 1, 2020

SEPTEMBER!

We made it through another Nor Cal summer.  Certainly a summer like none before.   On cue, we have our first small northwest swell due in here mid week - deepwater swell 4-6 at 15 seconds from 310 starting Wednesday night, peaking Thursday at 4-6 ft at 13 seconds.  Background south swells through the week around two feet.   Winds look to remain light south to northwest on and off through the week - may strengthen out of the northwest for the weekend.   Cya in the water.