A Few Windy Mornings was All it Took to Get Epic.

Kids with kites making the best of a windy day.

Today was nice, so I hope you got out and grabbed a piece of it.  But we had to work for it.  Some significant wind started to blow early last Thursday and did not let up until late morning on Saturday.  The breeze brought with it some cooler air, and a few very chilly mornings.  But this was not just your typical afternoon onshore winds.  Once it started, it kept blowing, and was strongest in the early morning hours.  Conditions were prime for full days of kite boarding.  We instead opted for a nice hike up from Waddell Creek into Big Basin.  If you have never been, put this one on your tick list.  You can bike, walk or stroll the six miles through wetlands, meadows, hardwoods, redwoods, and finally up to a waterfall.  Not too shabby.

Surf outlook for the coming week is a bit bleak.  While it will not be completely flat, it is sure going to try to get close.  Through the first half of the week some small 13 period swell will be filling in form the south, offering up to waist high waves.  More likely it will be only about knee high.  It looks like the wind swell should peak around Wednesday morning.  This will actually be coming from a small gale that formed in the Gulf of Alaska today, as opposed to local gradients.  The period should be around 10 seconds, and we will get some wrap into town.  You may not need to worry about wrap, if the winds got light as forecasted.  Mornings on the open coast should be an option.  If we are lucky, we could see some head high surf at the more exposed breaks.  There is also a pretty good fetch setting up just south of the Aleutians.  If this gale holds together, we may see some medium ground swell coming from the north west by next weekend.  It may not be much, but at least it is interesting for this time of year.

Rockview looking like Palm View.

High and dry is the best way to describe the weather right now.  The winds from last week really dried the air out, leaving us with great clear conditions for the weekend.  A warm up that began yesterday will continue through this entire week.  Today things got pretty warm, and up in Felton it easily breached the 80 degree mark.  It was a nice day to sit amongst the redwoods.  The rest of the week looks grand as well.  A short fog event may start tonight.  If it does occur, it will really just be in the mornings, and on the coast.  But it will keep the heat from fully developing.  By Wednesday, the mornings should be clear again, and Thursday should see a peak in the warmth.  Look for mid 80s in Santa Cruz and Oakland.  Areas of the South Bay and Gilroy could break 90.  San Francisco and Marin should be in the high 70s (sorry city folks).  Cooling for Friday and the weekend, as the storm track begins to hit the PNW again, driving cold air south.  We are expecting mid 60s by Sunday.  Another chance for warming returns around the 11th.

Not completely flat in Santa Cruz.

Of course, we are in good gardening weather.  And it is May.  So you should be well into working your summer garden.  By now you should at least have your soil worked and amended as needed.  If you have your tomatoes in, that is great.  While we do have a nice long growing season here on the central coast, you want to make sure your summer plants have a chance to mature by our warmest months of August and September.  Plant too late, and you will see significantly fewer tomatoes and cucumbers to harvest.  So get your plants into the ground this month, if you have not done so already.  Of course, if you get a late start, you can always buy seedlings instead of seeds (this will save you from 2-6 weeks depending on plant type), or you can even buy an adolescent plant.  But the important thing to remember is water.  As the rain stops, and the air dries out, the soil will need irrigation.  Keep that soil moist, especially when you plants are young, and their root system small.  Fava Beans are in full harvest right now.  Peas are starting to show as well.  Things are really starting to roll.

A nice week ahead.  Perhaps a touch of fog, but nothing like last summer.  Of course it is still a bit early for us to see too much grey, but not out of the question.  By Tuesday afternoon we look like clear and warming with some spectacular weather on Wednesday and Thursday.  Cooler, but still great outdoor weather for the weekend.