Big Waves and Continued Fog

Pink Ladies on Fair Street in Santa Cruz

The good news is we are going to see a slight warming trend through Tuesday.  The bad news is the fog layer does not seem to want leave, and we cool off later in the week.  Things remain pretty grey along the coast.  High temperature for Sunday should be in the low 70s in Santa Cruz, topping out near 80 for Tuesday.  Things take a dip and we are back into the high 60s by Friday.  Essentially, not much a change here in Santa Cruz for the near term.

The big news around town is the massive south swell that started impacting the central coast late on Wednesday.  This swell built through Thursday and seemed to peak early Friday morning.  And it was producing 12 foot waves in many locations.  Great for surfers, but not so much for home owners who are in areas of minor flooding.  The swell is subsiding, but there will still be great waves through the rest of the holiday weekend.  If you are not a water person, it is still best to stay on land.  These long period swells can have long lulls, and the sets can come out of no where.  Quickly.  Don't be caught off guard trying to get a good picture and get swept into the ocean.  It may be summer, but it is still cold.  But, if you want to watch some surfing, come to Santa Cruz and watch the Lane or Pleasure Point.  They are going off.

Kids playing along West Cliff on Tuesday, before the swell.

Still on track in the forecast is a strong storm moving into the Gulf of Alaska by Monday.  This storm is modeled to have a central low pressure of 960mb.  Pretty impressive and organized for early September.  This storm will also produce some decent size waves for our area.  It should clear out by the middle of the week, and high pressure tries to take hold.  More stormy weather should be moving from west to east across the north Pacific.  None of these systems are forecasted to be any south of Canada, and many are to drive north into the Alaskan panhandle.  Still, it is noteworthy (and not just for surfers) as it is a sign of the change of season.  And as these storms play around with the usual summer high pressure, we may be lucky enough to see the marine layer move away, and the sun come out to play.  I like sunny mornings.

In short, more of the same for now.  But things are moving to our north, and fall is knocking on the door.  Soon it will be time to pull out the rain gear and wax up those skis.  Get your summer outings in now.