Long Period Powerful South Swells Hit Santa Cruz as the Inland Empire Feels the First Real Heat Wave of the Season.

I mean, that is some serious headline.  Expect loads of traffic here in town this weekend as surfers from around the region descend on the surf breaks while at the same time hordes of folks from around the region escape the heat at area beaches.  The warm up, and the waves, start today.  As for the weather here in town, it is not so hot.  Fog pulled out today around noon, and the sea breeze kicked up.  Kind of a strange morning.  Fog was high early, with a clear view across the bay at Monterey, around 5AM.  By 7AM, it settled low on the water, only to slowly lift out just before noon.  Was kind of beautiful, actually.  Gonna pretty much stay in the upper 60s today, with select spots getting up into the early 70s.      Moderate winds developing around the top of the bay, with light west winds up the coast, perhaps building later.  Not really expecting strong winds, and the main pressure gradient is north of here.

Of course if you don't like the beach, you can always chill of from the valley heat at Roaring Camp Railroad.

Kind of looks like more of the same tomorrow, with perhaps fog pulling out a bit earlier, and the air a bit warmer.  Looks like it could be sort of nice out with a high in the mid 70s downtown and low 70s at the beach.  Saturday we see the peak of this inland heat wave and our warmest day in the mid 70s.  Looks real nice on the charts with light south flow, warm days and south swell.  It is gonna be a great weekend.  Sunday is a touch cooler, and fog returns over night.  South flow continues but with a marine layer instead of sun.  Temps hang out just about 70F, with overnight lows in the low 50s.  Water should stay warm as well, until the north west winds return.

So, a little more about the surf.  Very long period south swell filled in this morning.  It is running about 2.5 feet at 20 seconds. That surf has some serious push.  While not very tall surf, it will be quite powerful, with a lot of push up the beach.  Breaking waves are running about chest high to a touch overhead.  It will build from there.  With these long periods, area beaches will have large, powerful, closed out shore pound.  Not very friendly stuff, especially for the little ones.  This is the thing under tows are made from.  If you are headed out for a surf, find points and deep water reefs that can better focus the swell energy into surf able waves.  Swell heights should peak mid day Friday and slowly taper over the weekend.  A north west mid period swell will begin showing on Saturday, keeping wave heights a bit over head through the weekend.  The real good news is that the mornings start off with a near zero low tide, filling into a 4 foot high tide mid day, and just slowly dropping from there.  There will be a bit of a tide push in the late evening, but the peak will be well after night fall.  So in other words, good tides pretty much all day.  And that south flow does not hurt any, offering up more clean surf breaks to choose from.  Have fun out there, and try to be a decent human being while in the water.