So after nearly a month of traveling around New England and experiencing their hot humid days and amazing afternoon thunder and lightning storms, we return to beautiful Santa Cruz to find a warm sunny afternoon followed by a cool foggy morning. Who could have guessed? Following the summer weather here is generally a no brainer, and you can usually make a smart bet without ever even checking a forecast. A little different back east where each day can have significant difference. Glad to be back, but will sort of miss the humid 90F beach days with 68F water temps. It is hard to explain to friends how the Pacific can actually hurt as you step into it in Santa Cruz.
So what is in store for us central Californians? Santa Cruz can look forward to lows around 55 and highs around 70 for the foreseeable future. Heavy fog fills in every night and sticks around through the morning hours. Clearing late morning to early afternoon and then sun and some warming. As soon as that sun dips, the temperatures follow (no more hot summer nights for us). Not very exciting weather, for sure, but not terrible. Remember the six weeks last summer that we never really saw the sun along the coast, and even typically warm and sunny locales like Palo Alto had high cloud fog through early afternoon? That pattern never really set up this summer despite the pool of cold water hanging just off our coast. In part, this is because the interior did not really set up the heat pump from the southwest. Sure, the central valley is warm or hot even with daytime highs in the low 90s, but the air mass is cool when nights are dropping into the high 50s. Hence, no intense fog. But still enough to keep us damp.
Around the bay, low lying zones near water are seeing morning fog, just like us in Santa Cruz. Los Gatos seems to be the winner, as a little elevation, and being backed to the mountains is giving it sunny mornings with mid day highs around 85F. Perhaps this is the week to do a little shopping around their downtown. If shopping is not your thing, this weather is good for just about any outdoor activity besides sunbathing. You have a big window for hitting up the mountain bike trails around Wilder. Those sun exposed meadows do not bake in the sun until the sun comes out. Or is you want to escape the fog, head up to the Sierra. The days are actually much warmer up there this time of year, and you can expect high 70s and low 80s around the lake this week. And there is still plenty of patch skiing going on at the higher elevations.
The surf is looking small and decent this coming week, with plenty of action in the water. Northerly wind swell will offer up most of the energy. Some minimal typhoon swell may fill in and last through the week. This will be from the WNW, long period, small and inconsistent, but will mix with other swells to generate some fun waves. Also, we keep seeing some small mid period south energy filling in around Santa Cruz this work week. All in all, waist to chest high surf should be the call. And mornings should be glassy. We do have a chance for some mid sized south swells to arrive for the weekend. So, at least you can get out and get some exercise. You may even have a little fun.
In short, nothing too exciting. Should stay this way for a while. But fall is just around the corner, and we should begin seeing some pattern changes soon. Check back here later this week. I will assess our garden more tomorrow, but it looks like tomato season has begun along the coast.
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