"Stay happy and you'll be perfectly fine" - Jack Norris

Postcard from Cali + Sydney surf thoughts

Hello Friends,

Tide’s low a little after 1100 in Sydney and the wind’s supposed to be out of the SE by then. It was showing as NE at North Head when I started tapping this out at a little after 0700 – which is kinda weird since the radar’s showing a steady line of rain events streaming in from the SE. Swell was showing as a couple metres from the SE with an average period of 8 seconds. My guess is you’ll want to be pretty damn keen given all that. The Bureau’s got surf warnings posted for the next few days, but according to the charts, it looks like being SE and more SE through Saturday. But after that… well, if the forecast models turn out to have anything to do with reality, you should be able to make out a green glow off to the NE around Monday. That will be coming from me as I radiate envy at Sydneysiders’ offshore and clean surf conditions – and warm water. It looks like a classic east coast low will form up and fire the good stuff straight at ya.

Meanwhile, over here in so-cal, we’re still waiting for something like waves in the Santa Barbara region. About the only thing that’s happened since I got here is that the water has plunged back down to around 12 degrees thanks to a bout of NW wind.  That would be annoying but bearable if only we had some waves. Instead, we’re looking at dribbly junk that wouldn’t be out of place on a lake. Grumble, grumble.

Here’s a snap from the webcam located at Campus Point to give you an idea of how ordinary it is in Santa Barbara this afternoon.

Have a good one!

 

Weather Situation in Sydney

A strong high pressure system over the southwestern Tasman Sea extends a ridge to New South Wales north coast and a low pressure system is deepening over the Coral Sea. During Saturday and Sunday the low will move over the central Tasman Sea as the high moves towards New Zealand maintaining the ridge to the south and central coasts.

Forecast for Thursday until midnight

Winds: Southeasterly 15 to 20 knots. Seas: 1 to 1.5 metres. Swell: Southeasterly 2 to 3 metres. Swells breaking dangerously close inshore.

Forecast for Friday

Winds: Southeasterly 10 to 15 knots. Seas: 1 to 1.5 metres. Swell: Southeasterly 2 metres. Large swells breaking dangerously close inshore.

Forecast for Saturday

Winds: East to southeasterly 15 to 20 knots becoming southeasterly 10 to 15 knots during the evening. Seas: 1 to 1.5 metres. Swell: Easterly 2 metres. Large swells breaking dangerously close inshore.