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CHANGES TO WAVE DESCRIPTIONS Posted on 11/03/09 I've noticed some subtle changes to the forecast/report rating system (as of early November 2009). How come?
In an effort to simplify our reporting system in conjunction with the NEW CAM AND FORECAST PAGES we've re-organized the way we describe waves. This change will take effect over the evening of November 3rd 2009.
As you can see, we have not changed much, but we think that this scale is a little easier to understand than our older ones, with none of the plus and minus signs that occasionally caused problems. Here's the actual conversion we used:
Posted on 10/20/09 Were there any waves in the world this past week?
If you had unlimited funds and unlimited time on your hands, the past week would have been a good one to pick up one of those around the world tickets (or jumping in your G5), and surfing-or watching- a number of surf meccas go off. Here's a look back at the swells making news this past week, and a look forward to those that will make news in the next couple days.
Southern Ocean: Shipstern's Bluff gets Real Scary Just in Time for Halloween A strong and very large low recently tracked through the south Indian Ocean and under New Zealand. As you can see by the LOLA image this storm was so large it literally took up nearly the entire Southern Ocean between Australia and Antarctica, which is somewhere around 2500 miles! That is one large storm, not to mention the large area of 60kt+ winds near the center. This low sent massive SW swell to Shipsterns Bluff, and one of the freak waves on the planet saw some its biggest surf ever on Sunday, October 18th.  South Pacific: Teahupoo Lights Up Although it didn't quite live up to it's late season counterpart from a couple years ago, Tahiti did see a solid southwest swell the past Wednesday and Thursday the 14th-15th. Thanks to a broad, intense and long lasting fetch near New Zealand that fired up a little over a week into October, the reef at the end of the road (Teahupoo) bared it's teeth with strong surf and favorable conditions. This same swell is now affecting the southwest facing breaks of California, Baja, Mexico and Central America. While it isn't nearly as big as what hit Tahiti and the other islands of French Polynesia, we're certainly seeing some fun waves at the right spots.  US West Coast: Northwest and Combo Swells The North Pacific swell season has fired up relatively early this year, and the middle part of October saw a strong west swell slam California. Because the storm was so close to the Golden State, we picked up some rain (much needed) and initially even some funky wind. But as the swell wound down and high pressure filled in over the region (primarily Southern California) conditions cleaned up and we also benefited from a Southern Hemisphere south swell that filled in, creating peaky bowls at some of the better beachbreaks. More combo swell is on the way too, with the above mentioned southwest swell lingering for the next few days and a new west-northwest swell building in for the middle to second half of the week.  Southern Baja & Mainland Mexico: Hurricane Rick One of this year's major signs of our strengthening El Nino took the form of powerful Hurricane Rick off the coast of Mainland Mexico. Fueled by the abnormally warm sea surface temps in the Eastern Pacific, Rick went from a Tropical Storm with wind speeds of 63mph to a major Category 5 hurricane with wind of 180mph in only a matter of 48 hours! He ended up being the second strongest Hurricane on record for the Eastern Pacific. Rick initially started out on a NW track, then on Monday, the 19th he began to rapidly weaken and take a sharp turn to the NE. Unfortunately, the bad news for California surfers was, with the storm only making it far enough west to just barely get on the edge of the Southern California swell window only a few select spots open to the extreme SE swell direction will pick up a small pulse from Rick over Wed/Thurs. The good news for the lucky few in the right places of Southern Baja and Mainland Mexico is that with Rick's rapid weakening and quick NE track, he now looks to miss making landfall in Southern Baja but not before he sent solid shot of Tropical swell from the early to middle part of this week.  US East Coast: first Nor'easter of the season After being stuck in a poor, progressive pattern for the first couple of weeks in October, where storm systems rapidly pushed off the East Coast and accelerated towards the North Atlantic, we finally saw a change and the first nor'easter of the 2009 fall/winter season delivered. Low pressure developed along an old frontal boundary draped over the Gulf Coast States during the middle part of last week. This system pushed off the southeastern US coastline on Thursday and slide over Cape Hatteras on Friday. Rather than rapidly moving northeastward towards the North Atlantic, this system was initially blocked by high pressure over NE Canada that extended over the NW Atlantic. As this system strengthened on Friday and into Saturday, we saw a large, strong fetch of winds develop on the northern and eastern side of the system with QuikSCAT observations confirming wind speeds in the 50-55kt+ range directed back towards the East Coast. This resulted in a solid shot of swell for many breaks in the Mid Atlantic and Northeast on Friday. However, with gusty N/NNE winds, only a handful of spots handled the combination of swell size (easily overhead+ at the better spots) and winds and Long Island was one of those locations - http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/east-coast-nor-easter_31478/ Florida received a shot of swell with the surf filling in on Sunday. South Florida started slow early but as the tide dropped into the afternoon the surf turned on with plenty of warm, blue water waves blessing the various reefs and sandbars in the region. Some locations in North Florida also really turned on with offshore winds and solid swell to stoke out the surfers there with their first taste of fall/winter weather and waves.  Europe: Bombing NW Swell on the way to the Rip Curl Search Portugal A very large frontal low has developed and rapidly strengthened to the west of Ireland over the past 48 hours, which promises to bring a macking northwest swell to most of Western Europe for the middle to second half of the week. The timing couldn't be any better for the Rip Curl Search event, held at Peniche, Portugal. While wind conditions won't be ideal and the weather stormy, there should be some pockets of relatively clean surf.  Asia: Typhoon Lupit cranking out swell for China, Taiwan and Beyond With top maximum sustained winds of 155mph, Typhoon Lupit just missed becoming a Category 5 system as it snaked across the tropical West Pacific this last Sunday, Oct. 18th. Since then Lupit has settled into a ESE course while slowly weakening. At this point it looks like Lupit will run into the north end of the Philippines, (almost exactly where Typhoon Parma hit earlier this month), by this Friday. After that Lupit could strengthen again while tracking across the South China Sea towards China. 
Posted on 10/14/09 Curious about how El Niño will impact the surf in the Atlantic?
The Surfline Forecast team has broken down the details on what you can expect for the upcoming fall/winter season. Check out our feature on this by clicking here.
Posted on 10/14/09 Curious about how El Niño will impact the surf for the Pacific?
The Surfline Forecast team has broken down the details on what you can expect for the upcoming fall/winter season. Check out our feature on this by clicking here.
Posted on 08/20/09 This is a forecaster blog concerning the intensification of Hurricane Bill.
As I am sure you are aware, we are currently watching Hurricane Bill churn up the waters of the Central and Western Atlantic. Bill strengthened from a minimal hurricane on Monday morning, into an intense Category 4 system with 135mph maximum sustained winds as of 11AM Wednesday advisory from the National Hurricane Center. So the question arises, why did Bill strengthen so quickly over a relatively short period of time? Also, what is in store for Hurricane Bill the next several days?
First off, let's go into some detail concerning the strengthening we saw over that 48 hours period. Unlike his predecessor Ana, Bill has found himself in an environment that has been favorable for development since the African Easterly Wave that spawned the system pushed off the African coastline last week. While Ana fought off the dry, stable air associated with the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) and easterly then westerly shear, Bill had the benefit of an upper level anticyclone which is conducive for development. An anticyclone in the upper levels promotes the secondary in, up, and out circulation which fellow forecaster Mike Watson mentioned in last year's blog on Hurricane Hannah. In Bill's case, this upper level anticyclone has traveled pretty much in tandem across the tropical Atlantic. Notice the low shear values located just to the SW of Bill's current location - this is an environment that is favorable for intensification. You can see this on our upper level wind shear chart below.  (Image available at Hurricanetrak and courtesy of UW - Madison CIMMS). The next variable we will look at is ocean temperatures - specifically the depth of the 26C isotherm. This figure tells us how deep down the warm water needed to sustain or strengthen a tropical cyclone exists. In the case of Bill, he was actually moving through an area of moderately warm SSTs (lighter blues in figure below), definitely enough for strengthening but not the highest values in the basin. In fact, Bill is currently in an area of warmer SSTs (yellows), around 28-29C (as of 5PM Thursday) but the tropical cyclone has actually weakened in the past 24hrs.  (Image courtesy of Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at University of Miami). The National Hurricane Center is predicting strengthening with this system but fluctuations in intensity are common with intense hurricanes like Bill due to something called Eye Replacement Cycles. During an Eye Replacement Cycle, the intense eye wall of the hurricane becomes surrounded by an intense ring of thunderstorms which slowly moves inward towards the center of circulation. As this process takes place, the inner wall weakens and dissipates while the outer wall contracts and strengthens. When the inner eye wall is weakening, we typically see the central pressure rise (indicating a weakening system) and wind speeds decrease. As the outer eye wall strengthens and constricts, the pressure again falls and wind speeds increase to a level equal to and sometimes greater than when the process began. These small fluctuations in the inner structure of a hurricane are not are handled well by our current modeling and forecasting capabilities so it is difficult to nail down exactly when these will occur. Regardless, all the elements are coming together for Bill to re-strengthen over the next day or so. Without a doubt, Bill is going to serve up some of the biggest surf we have seen on the East Coast in recent memory, so be safe, be prepared, know your limits, but have fun and hopefully things will work out - without all of the destruction. Be sure to check out our Written Surfline Forecast for more info on the expected swell in your area. Kurt Korte Surfline Forecaster
Posted on 08/18/09 Hey Guys,
First of all, keep up the good work!!! I have a question about energy that gets created from a passing Pacific storm. Living in SoCal, we rarely see any significant swell from passing storms moving up from the tropics. Understood, most of this is due to shadowing from the local islands but much of the energy getting created seems to steamroll directly for Hawaii. This leads me to believe that the energy getting transferred to the water is directional along the leading edge of the storm. I had thought previously, that storm energy radiates out in all directions like sound waves (or dropping a pebble in a calm lake). Is that not the case, is there any energy that radiates out from the storm center? Thanks again! -Steve Hey Steve-
Thanks for the props, we're glad you're stoked on the service. In regards to the hurricane question, there are a number of factors that need to be considered when forecasting potential swell from tropical storms. The offshore islands can and do play a role in how much swell each particular region of Southern California will pick up. Often times, people will head to Malibu on a SE or SSE hurricane swell (I mean, it is a great summer time spot, right?) only to find it tiny. That's what Catalina and San Clemente Islands do for you! By the way, for more info on Malibu, check out this blog by Sean Collins: That's getting a little ahead of ourselves though, as we're making the assumption that there is actually swell on the way and its simply being blocked from a particular area by the islands. Oftentimes, as was the case with our last couple storms/hurricanes that have spun up in the Eastern Pacific tropics over the past few weeks, we're seeing very little or no swell from them whatsoever. Just as with the larger extratropical storms that generate long period groundswells for us in the North and South Pacific, the amount of swell we get from a hurricane is dependent on a few factors: the location of the storm relative to our surf spot, the size of the storm, the strength of the storm and the path that the storm takes. Any of these factors can really make or break a swell and in an ideal world you'd have a very large and intense storm moving directly at you, in an area outside of any shadowing effects, to maximize swell. Unfortunately, in the Eastern Pacific, the typical hurricane takes on a westward track, moving away from Southern California. You mentioned that 'storm energy radiates out in all directions like sound waves (or dropping a pebble in a calm lake)'. In theory, that is correct, but only when the storm is stationary and/or moving exceptionally slow and that doesn't happen very often. Again, the typical hurricane takes on a westerly track and really only a portion of swell will push towards us. A couple of resources you might find useful/interesting: HurricaneTrak: A great way to track storms and check the tracks of former storms. For examples of storms that created good swells for SoCal check out Guillermo, Linda and Nora from 97, Lane from 2000 and Hernan from 2002 HurricaneTrak Poster: Goes into an in depth analysis of the anatomy of a hurricane and five 'classic' tropical swells, for both the East Coast and the West Coast, and why they were so good (any combo of hurricane size, intensity, track, etc). Hope that helps and happy hurricane hunting! Kevin Wallis Surfline Forecaster
Posted on 08/12/09 Hi,
I noticed driving over the intracoastal waterway a few times that with the same relative wind direction and speed that the surface textures on the water vary. I understand that tide plays a factor in sea surface texture but, does barometric pressure play a role in sea surface texture i.e. the higher the barometric pressure the less the wind will effect the sea surface. Thanks for your time. Steve I. Hi Steve,
In a sense the atmospheric pressure can dictate minor variations in the sea surface texture (since gravity is a restoring force for a sea state and surface tension is the restoring force for capillary waves) - but this would likely be very negligible and undetectable to a human observer.. It may appear to be the same wind speed/direction but we are missing two important components and that is the distance this wind is blowing over the water and the local bathymetry (which could be negligible depending on the specific case). For this theoretical illustration we will use the same wind speed/direction, assume that the time scale the wind is blowing allows for a fully developed sea state, ignore bathymetry but assume a different length that the wind is blowing over the water. A look at the wave nomogram illustrates that given a 12kt wind over 10 miles, the seas would be approximately 1.5ft with a wave period of around 2.5-2.7 seconds. Given a 12kt wind over 20 miles we get seas approximately 2ft with a wave period around 3 seconds. So the variations you are seeing are most likely due to the fetch length! Hope this helps! Best, Mike Watson Surfline East Coast Manager/Forecaster
Posted on 07/22/09 What's the surf looking like for the US Open this week?
THURSDAY 23rd
SWELL/SURF: For the early morning, the old SSW/NW swell mix offers 3-4' (waist-chest high) surf. New, long period SSW swell starts to fill in mid morning and really starts to come up over the afternoon/evening; building into the 4-6' range, with 7-8' sets late in the day. *Expect a strong South to North drift to develop with sets becoming more walled out and washing through the pier. WIND/CONDITIONS: Light/variable winds early. Light to moderate West flow builds for the afternoon. FRIDAY 24th SWELL/SURF: Solid, long period SSW groundswell peaks with weak NW windswell mixing in. Plenty of waves in the 5-8'+ (head to well overhead) range all day. Occasional bomb sets around 10-12'(double overhead). *Expect a strong South to North drift with walled out sets sweeping through the pier. WIND/CONDITIONS: Light/variable winds early. Moderate W/WNW flow builds for the afternoon. SATURDAY 25th SWELL/SURF: SSW groundswell holds with more 5-7-8' (head high to well overhead) surf and occasional bigger sets to 10' (near double overhead). *Expect a strong South to North drift with walled out sets sweeping through the pier. WIND/CONDITIONS: Light/variable winds early. Moderate W to WNW flow builds for the afternoon. SUNDAY 26th SWELL/SURF: SSW groundswell fading but still fairly solid with surf running in the 4-7' range. It looks like we'll see a very small NW swell pulse up through the day. Still generally walled and with a strong current, although shape should improve at least slightly with the smaller SSW swell and small NW swell. WIND/CONDITIONS: Light/variable winds early. Moderate W to WNW flow builds for the afternoon. DISCUSSION & LONG RANGE FORECAST Expect fun, but relatively small, surf early Thursday morning, thanks to a combo of SSW Southern Hemisphere swell and small NW windswell. Waves will be in the waist-chest high range, occasionally a little better. Solid, long period SSW groundswell will arrive Thursday afternoon through Sunday, with the strongest waves showing Friday and into early Saturday. The surf will be on the rise throughout the day on Thursday as the long period forerunners move in. The new swell should be fairly noticeable by the later morning and then will really build for the late afternoon/evening, with solid head high surf and sets to a couple feet+ overhead. The largest waves will show Friday and into Saturday morning with surf running head high to well overhead, and sets in the double overhead range. Fading, but still strong surf will continue for the finals on Sunday. ***NOTE*** The pier will be mainly walled out with a strong south to north drift during this swell event, especially Thursday afternoon through Saturday. As the size and period of the SSW swell come down on Sunday, and the small NW swell pulses up, the shape should improve at least slightly. Next update: Thursday evening, July 23rd A snapshot of our Huntington Beach nearshore swell model, showing the sizeable south-southwest swell for later this week. 
Posted on 07/21/09 Below is an alert we sent out to most of the California lifeguard agencies, the National Weather Service, and various public safety officials earlier this week.
-Ed STRONG SOUTH SWELL TO GENERATE LARGE SURF AND VERY DANGEROUS CONDITIONS
THURSDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH SUNDAY (7/23RD-26TH) SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: Strong 5-8' surf (face height) in South facing areas Thursday afternoon through Saturday. Maximum surf 10-12'+, Wedge 20'+. Hurley US Open at Huntington Pier: 8-12 feet Friday and Saturday NORTHERN CALIFORNIA: Strong 4-8 foot surf in South facing areas Friday through Sunday, maximum surf in Santa Cruz 8-10'+ SPECIAL ALERTS: Very intermittent and occasional large waves could sweep unsuspecting persons off rocks, tide pools, jetties, break walls - especially on Thursday! Extremely hazardous surf zone rip currents in all south facing areas Coastal flooding and erosion during 6 foot+ high tides - especially at night Breaking waves in harbor entrances during low tide periods Strong surging inside Long Beach Harbor Breakwater, Port of Long Beach, and downtown marinas Huntington Beach, CA -- A very strong storm system in the Southern Hemisphere near Tahiti over the last week has developed a very large south swell (185-195 degrees), which will generate very large surf and hazardous ocean conditions on Thursday through Sunday, July 23rd through July 26th in California. Satellite measurements recorded wind speeds over 50 knots and sea heights over 45 feet in the midst of this storm last weekend. As the Official Forecasters for the Hurley US Open of Surfing at Huntington Beach, Surfline has been closely monitoring the development of this swell for the event, but it has become very apparent that this large swell event will also create very dangerous public safety situations over the next week. This swell will begin to arrive in Southern California throughout the day on Thursday (7/23), and the surf may actually be disarmingly small in many areas throughout the morning. Look for a significant building trend in most areas by Thursday afternoon, with the bulk of the swell filling in by Friday and Saturday the 24th-25th. The swell will ease slightly on Sunday before dropping off rapidly throughout the beginning of next week. By Friday and Saturday, strong 5-8' surf (face height) will be found at the South and southwest facing beaches in San Diego, Orange County, El Porto/Manhattan/Venice, Northern LA and Southern Ventura County. Areas with significant southerly exposure - especially those in Orange County - will experience larger 10-12'+ surf, and even larger 20 foot+ sets at Newport Wedge. Northern and Central California will also experience large surf in south and southwest facing areas with surf heights in the 5-8 foot range on Friday through Sunday. Larger waves in the 10 foot+ range will be found in the more southerly exposed areas like Santa Cruz. SUDDEN LARGE WAVES ~ This will be a very, very dangerous large swell event. On Thursday as the swell initially begins to fill into Southern California, there will be very long lull periods of small or no waves, but then suddenly a series of very large waves will sweep over previously dry areas. This situation poses an extreme danger to unsuspecting people that may be walking over exposed rocky areas, exploring tide pools, or fishing from jetties or break walls. Local authorities should use extra precautions to warn all persons away from venturing out to southerly exposed areas that may become swamped with occasional very large sets of waves. By Friday the swell and consistent large waves will become much more evident to casual beach goers and nearshore interests. So once again, the high danger period may be on Thursday when the large waves will be more intermittent and less obvious to beach goers. RIP CURRENTS ~ Side shore rip currents will be extremely strong and treacherous by Friday and throughout the weekend. The swell direction will approach most beaches from a side shore southerly direction so the currents will be sweeping from south to north. Jetties, piers, and other coastal obstacles may also pose additional dangers. COASTAL FLOODING ~ Very high 6 foot+ tides will occur during the middle of the night on Thursday and Friday nights. Low lying exposed south facing areas may experience coastal flooding and erosion during the high tide periods. Residents and coastal interests in these areas should plan accordingly and check with their local authorities to explore possible sand bagging or other protection options for low lying exposed areas. As an example, a few areas that may experience coastal flooding and erosion during this large swell event may include Balboa/Newport Peninsula, Seal Beach/Surfside, Long Beach Peninsula, and the Malibu - northern LA County beach front areas. BREAKING WAVES IN HARBOR ENTRANCES ~ Harbor entrances open to the southerly direction will experience breaking waves inside and near the entrances during the low tide periods in the early morning and late afternoons. These harbors may include Dana Pont, Newport/Corona del Mar, Alamitos Bay, and Ventura Harbors. The Port of Long Beach and nearshore marinas in Long Beach will experience significant surging inside the harbor. The long period south swell energy will be greatly concentrated near the outer breakwaters of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and maximum surging in the harbor and marina areas will occur during the high tide periods on Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday night. Marine interests should take extra precaution to insure that their property is secure during these adverse conditions. LARGE WAVES WILL BE WASHING OVER THE TOP OF PORTIONS OF THE LOS ANGELES AND LONG BEACH BREAKWATERS ON THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY SO ALL PERSONS SHOULD STAY OFF THESE STRUCTURES. BOATERS SHOUD ALSO AVOID MAXIMUM SURGING NEAR THESE STRUCTURES. Hot weather is expected to continue in Southern California, especially inland, through the coming weekend and the period of high surf. As such, beach crowds will likely be heavy once again and any necessary precautions should be taken to ensure their safety. Please feel free to contact us for further information or questions. -The Surfline Forecast Team We're tracking the upcoming swell via the Jason altimeter satellite. Below you can see the leading edge of the swell just south of the equator, roughly 2.5-3.5 days away from California. The swell (green line on right) is plotted against what our LOLA swell model (red line on right) is forecasting to happen at that point. It looks like our swell model is actually a little low.  A snapshot of our Huntington Beach nearshore swell model, showing the sizeable south-southwest swell for later this week. Surfline is the leading provider of surf report, forecast and editorial content to consumers, businesses and government agencies worldwide. Headquartered in Huntington Beach, California, Surfline delivers timely, accurate and comprehensive data on a daily basis via wireless web and the Internet. The company's world-renowned website, Surfline.com, is visited by over 100,000 unique people per day and over 1,500,000 per month -- the largest and most loyal audience of surf and beach enthusiasts in the world. Since 1985, Surfline has merged premier surf report, forecast and editorial talent with industry-leading technology to produce "must-have" content of unparalleled quality aimed at active participants in the sports of surfing, windsurfing, bodysurfing, body boarding and kite surfing. Surfline also provides crucial forecasting information to lifeguard agencies, National Weather Service, NOAA, ACOE, Coast Guard, US Navy, and many other public safety entities.
Posted on 07/17/09 What's the surf looking like for the US Open this week?
WEDNESDAY 22nd
SWELL/SURF: Modest SW/S Southern Hemi mix and small NW windswell. Surf continues in the 3' range (waist high), with occasional plus sets to 4'(chest high). WIND/CONDITIONS: Light S/SSW wind early. Light to moderate SW/W wind for the afternoon. THURSDAY 23rd SWELL/SURF: Long-period SSW groundswell steadily builds throughout the day with a much weaker NW windswell mixing in. Look for sets to increase from 4-5-6'++ (chest-head-overhead). Then 7-8'+ sets (well overhead) show in the late afternoon/evening. *Expect a strong South to North drift to develop with sets becoming more walled out and washing through the pier. WIND/CONDITIONS: Light/variable to slight onshore winds early. Moderate West flow builds for the afternoon. FRIDAY 24th SWELL/SURF: Solid, long period SSW groundswell peaks with weak NW windswell mixing in. Plenty of waves in the 5-8'+ (head to well overhead) range all day. Occasional bomb sets around 10-12'(double overhead). *Expect a strong South to North drift with walled out sets sweeping through the pier. WIND/CONDITIONS: Light/variable winds early. Moderate W/WNW flow builds for the afternoon. SATURDAY 25th SWELL/SURF: SSW groundswell holds with more 5-7-8' (head high to well overhead) surf and occasional bigger sets to 10' (near double overhead). *Expect a strong South to North drift with walled out sets sweeping through the pier. WIND/CONDITIONS: Light/variable winds early. Moderate W to WNW flow builds for the afternoon. SUNDAY 26th SWELL/SURF: SSW groundswell fading but still fairly solid with surf running in the 4-7'+ range (shoulder high to a couple feet overhead). It looks like we'll see a very small NW swell pulse up through the day. Still generally walled and with a strong current, although slightly better shape than the previous days. WIND/CONDITIONS: Light/variable winds early. Moderate W to WNW flow builds for the afternoon. DISCUSSION & LONG RANGE FORECAST We'll a continuation of small to modest size South and Southwest swells through Wednesday. A small NW windswell will also be in the mix to occasionally cross up the southerly lines. Surf will be mainly in the waist high range, with occasional sets to chest high. Solid, long period SSW groundswell will arrive Thursday through Sunday, with the strongest waves showing Friday and into early Saturday. The surf will be on the rise throughout the day on Thursday as the long period forerunners move in with solid head high surf and sets to a couple feet+ overhead by the late afternoon/evening and possibly larger at times. Primetime will be Friday and into Saturday morning with surf running head high to well overhead, with sets in the double overhead range. Fading, but still strong surf will continue for the finals on Sunday. ***NOTE*** The pier will be mainly walled out with a strong south to north drift during this swell event, possibly improving slightly in shape on Sunday. Next update: Wednesday evening, July 22nd -The Surfline Forecast Team We're tracking the upcoming swell via the Jason altimeter satellite. Below you can see the leading edge of the swell just south of the equator, roughly 2.5-3.5 days away from California. The swell (green line on right) is plotted against what our LOLA swell model (red line on right) is forecasting to happen at that point. It looks like our swell model is actually a little low. A snapshot of our Huntington Beach nearshore swell model, showing the sizeable south-southwest swell for later this week.
Let us know what you're thinking about at forecasters@surfline.com. Thanks for your support! |
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