Surfline • Wavetraks Newsletter March 17, 2003



		From Sean Collins and the Surfline Forecast Team : EFFECTIVE March 17, 2003

NORTH PACIFIC FEBUARY 17-19th 2003
February was a pretty dismal month for storm activity. We saw a semi-permanent ridge of high pressure hanging over the eastern NPAC that severely tweaked the storm track and kept the biggest waves headed toward Alaska rather than the more surfable locations. Our storm of the month managed to fight off the power of the high for a brief couple of days and send a large swell, (but not that big compared to previous storm's of the month), towards Hawaii before it succumbed and was forced over the Aleutians. This storm did manage to produce 55-65 knots of wind but most of the fetch was aimed in the wrong direction and the best Hawaiian spots saw 15-20' faces. California eventually picked up some of this swell but was busy fighting off bad weather and the increase in waves went through mostly unnoticed with all the wind and the rain. --Adam Wright


	HAWAII -- Overhead and Glassy The islands had a good run of surf in February. After an initial sloppy start from a close-proximity mid-latitude storm, conditions really began to clean up. As a near stationary high-pressure system built ENE of Hawaii, we saw a very stable weather pattern develop; storms would spin off of Japan/Siberia, strengthen in the WPAC, begin sending swell as they tracked towards the islands, and then get punted up into Alaska by the high. This pattern prevented us from getting very large swells but it did keep conditions very clean for the moderate sized waves we did have. Overall we had four distinctive swells that offered a good chunk of surfable days throughout the month with only a couple of noticeable lags. Hawaii gets a 7.5/10 this month -- consistently playful with clean conditions is damn hard to beat. --AW
	NORTHERN CALIFORNIA -- We Just Want To Forget The beginning of the month, surf and weather-wise at least, began where January left off. Conditions were generally sunny with light wind and a modest series of WNW swells in the slightly overhead range at the good breaks. By around the 10th of the month, however, it appeared as if spring had been thrust upon us. A humble series of Western Pacific storms pushing through the second half of the month mustered enough energy to create mostly medium-period, head-high waves, with only a couple of days of double overhead surf at the standout breaks. Unfortunately, due to the position of the Eastern North Pacific high and some sneaky storms able to squeak around it, conditions were mostly less than ideal with plenty of days of onshore wind and some periods of rain. February 2003 is a surfing month that will likely be forgotten fairly soon. Overall rating: 5. --Kevin Wallis
	SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA -- Oh So That Was Winter After a two-month party of surf in December and January, February was kind of like the hangover that followed. Sure, there were a couple of good days with surf in the overhead range with clean conditions at the good winter spots, but they were pretty few and far between. Storm production in the Western North Pacific stayed fairly weak and, thanks to blocking high pressure in the Eastern North Pacific, the storms that did were never able to get very close to the west coast for most of the month. The storms that did manage to squeak around the high were generally modest at best, but at least spawned some much needed rain. Of particular interest was a rare, clean, overhead S wind swell around the middle of the month, which looked deceptively like hurricane surf at the best exposed breaks. Unfortunately it was gone almost as soon as it arrived. Overall rating: 3. --KW

	And Here Comes Spring A strong high-pressure system will return to dominate the Eastern North Pacific in March and April. The North Pacific storm track will meander from Japan through the mid latitudes before the track is pushed further north by the high pressure in the Eastern Pacific. This weather phenomenon is very typical for late March through April and signifies smaller west and northwest swells on the horizon. For Hawaii, expect smaller west and northwest swells as the storms steadily weaken in intensity over the next month. The next 30-days Hawaii will also see more local wind as the east/northeasterly trades increase due to the close location of the stronger high pressure to the north. Watch for a few early Southern Hemisphere swells out of the south/southwest from increasing storm activity off New Zealand. For the US West Coast, smaller west and northwest swells will creep in from storm activity off the Aleutians. A side effect of the high pressure in the Eastern Pacific will be a series of local northwest wind swells along the US West Coast of California and Baja. Unfortunately water temperatures are also likely to drop at least a few degrees everywhere after the windy days. Watch for early Southern Hemisphere swells beginning to filter in from increasing storm activity off New Zealand and Antarctica. See ya out there, Sean...
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