Where’s the surf? It’s comin’!
Those of us who surf the San Diego beaches, by which I mean OB, PB and La Jolla, may have noticed that this was one crappy month for waves. Normally by now we can count on at least a couple of decent wave days, but lately, no surge. Practically everyday, the dude from Wavewatch.com on KPBS seems to be saying, “Small waves, let’s call them one to three foot,” which most of us can read as “mill pond.” Piffle.
So I called Wavewatch.com, just to get the lowdown on this wacky flat month. Well, as the real surfers already know, the surfing has been pretty good on beaches that get good southern exposure: Imperial Beach, Oceanside and Orange County. Trestles has been good, I’m told. But still, the San Diego beaches have been bad. Wavewatch forecaster Adam Wright had a decent explanation. There are three factors:
- It’s still early. The San Diego beaches need a west-northwest swell to get consistent waves. Some of that swell is produced by winter storms in the Pacific, storms that are still blocked by a high-pressure system above the Gulf of Alaska. Normally that system would have begun to shift by now, moving south so that it sits above Southern California, making sure we have plenty of sun in the winter, but also releasing the North Pacific storms to generate that WNW swell. However, this year, late-blowing Santa Ana winds have prevented that system from moving.
- Big tide shifts. Wright said we’ve had some really high high tides, and some really low low tides. High highs swamp the waves, low lows suck the energy out.
- No storms. Wright said that we normally get at least a couple of early storms in the Pacific by this point. Those storms would generate at least a couple of days of decent swell before dissipating.
But do not despair, gentle surfers. Wright thinks good times are on their way. He expects maybe some decent swells this weekend, but if not, that high-pressure system should begin to move in the next few days. He said that typically takes two weeks, so sometime in early-to-mid December things should get better. I know you were all worried.
