PACIFIC OVERVIEW
On Tuesday (1/24) Northern CA surf was head high to 2 ft overhead with clean conditions. South facing breaks were chest to head high. Central California surf was chest to head high and clean. Southern CA breaks from Santa Barbara to just north of LA were chest high at the best spots with most waist high or less. The LA area southward to Orange County was waist high. Southward from Orange County into San Diego best breaks were waist to chest high.The North Shore of Oahu was head high with sets 2-3 ft overhead. The South Shore was waist high. The East Shore was head high with sets 2 ft overhead from easterly windswell.
Enjoy the clean funsized longer period swell in California while it's here, because a less pristine forecast is developing. Shorter period but larger windswell is on the charts for the days ahead coming from the Gulf of Alaska. In Hawaii one more longer period small-moderate sized swell is expected, originating from gale currently off the Kuril Islands. After that the outlook for Hawaii is not encouraging. See details below...
SHORT- TERM FORECAST
Current marine weather and wave analysis.cgius forecast conditions for the next 72 hours
North Pacific
Overview
Tuesdays (1/22) jetstream continued in the .cgiit mode as it has for the past week or so. That is a strong flow was pushing off Japan .cgiitting at the dateline with the north branch pushing into the northern Gulf of Alaska while the south branch dove to the equator starting just west of Hawaii. A bit of a dead spot was in.cgiace between the two .cgiit streams covering much of the entire Eastern Pacific, though not as bad as a few days ago. Winds coming off Japan were at at 160 kts with a decent trough in.cgiace off the Kuril Islands, then fading fast at the .cgiit point. There were no clear indications of anything that would support surface level storm development other than the trough off the Kurils, but 50% of that was landlocked. Over the next 72 hours through Friday (1/27) the trough is to continue off Japan with winds in the 160 kt range with the .cgiit point starting to drift east, a very good sign, moving to just barely west of Hawaii. Progress is to be slow, but it's progress just the same. More energy is to be flowing into the Gulf of Alaska too, suggesting the southern branch is to be loosing energy and the northern branch (flowing through the Gulf) is to be gaining energy. These pockets of small energy pushing through the Gulf might actually help to support some minimal surface level gale development. Beyond 72 hours the same trend is to continue with the .cgiit point continuing to make slow eastward progress pushing over Hawaii to the 140W line a week out. Energy levels to fall back by Japan, but then starting to resurge next Tuesday (1/31). This offers a glimmer of hope for some semi real surface level storm development probably two weeks out.
At the surface today high pressure at 1028 mbs was positioned north of HAwaii ridging north to the Aleutians bulging south and west to the dateline and east to Southern California generating brisk easterly trades in and around Hawaii but not covering as much area as days before.Two lows of interest were in.cgiay, though neither was significant. One was off Oregon with pressure 1000 mbs generating a weak fetch of 40 kt winds aimed generally at North and Central California expected to track east into British Columbia late Wednesday generating 20-22 ft seas through the time span. This will be good for a lumpy dose of sizeable windswell with period in the 13 sec for breaks north of Pt Conception and focused best for the Pacific Northwest starting Thursday (1/26) into Friday.
Also what was to be a fairly decent system developing off the Kuril islands on Monday (1/23) has faltered producing only a broad and fragmented area of 40-50 kt winds centered near 42N 160E aimed due east, then dropping to barely 35 kt Tuesday AM and heading down from there. Seas built to 32 ft Tuesday AM, but are expected to be below 30 ft by evening. Long period swell that was expected for Hawaii and the US west coast is now downgraded, with only HAwaii expecting to see any size and that limited to swell of 6 ft @ 16 secs late Friday afternoon (1/27) holding into Saturday AM (9-10 ft faces) then fading. Much less size for the US West coast and likely buried in local short period swell on Monday (1/30).
Over the next 72 hours yet a third low is forecast in the northern Gulf of Alaska Wednesday (1/25) at 984 mbs producing 40-45 kt west winds aimed best at Washington and tracking into British Columbia late Thursday producing 27 ft seas. More 13-14 sec period swell from a northerly direction expected from Pt Conception northward on Saturday (1/28).
No other swell producing systems forecast.
North Pacific Animations: Jetstream - Surface Pressure/Wind - Sea Height - Surf Height
California Offshore Forecast
On Tuesday (1/24) high pressure at 1028 mbs was north of Hawaii with a small ridge pushing east to South CA, but the noticeable feature was low pressure at 994 mbs pushing towards British Columbia. It's to drag a very weak front over North CA Wednesday evening with high pressure trying to build in right behind it. Then another low and associated front are forecast pushing into the same area early Friday (1/27) with high pressure behind that. Yet another weak system is expected behind that on Saturday into Sunday. The net effect of all these systems is to a few short spells of weak southerly wind followed by a moderate north flow, limited to points mostly north of Monterey Bay.
The 5 Day wind forecast is now included with the surf & swell overview in the QuikCAST's.
South Pacific
Overview
No swell producing fetch forecast over the next 72 hours.
South Pacific Animations: Jetstream - Surface Pressure/Wind - Sea Height - Surf Height
LONG-TERM FORECAST
Marine weather and forecast conditions 3-10 days into the future
North Pacific
Beyond 72 hours a bit of a meandering pattern forecast a the surface while the jetstream starts to reorganize the support structure at the upper levels of the atmosphere. By Wednesday of next week (2/1) high pressure is to be.cgiaying a less dominant role in the easy and a series of small storms might start developing just east of the dateline tracking through the Gulf heading towards the Pacific Northwest. It's way to early to suspect this might actually occur, and there's no specifics worthy of mention, but at least there's some hope.
Nothing else of interest suggested.
South Pacific
Beyond 72 hours no swell producing fetch is forecast.
Details to follow...
Local Interest
MV Indies Trader Returns to Sumatra
Indies Trader Marine Adventures is proud to announce that after seven incredibly successful years circumnavigating the globe on Quiksilver's "Crossing" expedition - the MV Indies Trader is returning to its roots in Sumatra.More info here
El Nino Forecast Updated: The Stormsurf El Nino forecast was updated on 12/30/05. Check out all the latest details concerning El Nino and it's impact on the winter surf season. Details here
Tutorial on the Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO) Presented by Dr. Roland Madden: If you're interested in El Nino and the MJO, have a basic understanding of El Nino, and you have broadband connection, audio and Macromedia Flash installed, then the following presentation is a must see. Dr Madden present a great overview of how the MJO works. And there's nothing like hearing it straight from the founders mouth. Link here: http://meted.ucar.edu/climate/mjo/mjonav0.htm
Read all the latest news and happenings on our News Page here
Surf Height-Swell Height Correlation Table
