Wednesday's Waves: More Windswell for now but something is starting to line up way out back

Wednesday will be another surf day but it may be a touch sloppy at times.

Surfwise we will have mostly NW windswell (300+) and a tiny touch of leftover SW swell. Wave heights are expected to hold around waist-shoulder high+ at the exposed NW breaks. The protected areas will be much smaller, holding consistently in the knee-chest high range on the sets.

We will have a small storm moving through the area tonight that will bring some rain and scattered showers to both the north and central coasts. This front will be clearing the area by the morning and we should see weather start to dry out quickly afterward.

Winds should be light in the morning, (a lot depends on how fast the front moves out), so look for mostly light and variable onshore texture for spots from SF northward. Monterey Bay/Santa Cruz breaks will have light N-NW flow through the morning. All spots see an increase in NW flow by the afternoon.

Your best bet for surf will likely be the NW facing beach breaks...there may be a little bump to it with the onshore winds...but it should be manageable. The Santa Cruz spots will be quite a bit smaller...mostly weak longboard surf, but if you head out with that in mind you will probably have some fun there too.

Long-range it looks like the North Pacific is going to get one last gasp...the forecasts are showing a ok looking storm forming around the southern edge of the Gulf of Alaska. Here check out the wavewatchIII chart...it is showing the system in about 4 days or so.



If the storm lives up to forecasts we could see an overhead+ WNW swell, with some longer-period energy, arriving around the 28th or so. Anyway thought I would throw it out there for you to check out...make sure to check back I will have some better info as we get closer.

Wednesday’s Surf – Cleaner but with a lot of windswell

Wednesday will be a pretty good surf day at the more protected spots. The expose breaks will be a bit sloppy with both shape and increasing afternoon winds becoming a problem.

In the water we will have a mix of WNW wind/groundswell coming off that little storm that rolled over us the last couple of days. The swell periods make it look like a longer-period windswell (around 10-seconds or so) but it is actually a combo of fading longer-period WNW swell and the steeper local NW windswell. There is also a touch of S-SW swell holding in the background and occasionally crossing up the WNW energy at the combo breaks.

Wave heights will still be healthy at the NW facing beaches. The more open spots will be running about head high to overhead surf fairly consistently and some bigger sets going a few feet overhead at times. Shape is likely to be a bit lumpy thanks the stacked up nature of the swell…look for the best surf at spots that like the windswell swell-periods.

The protected spots in Santa Cruz and along the Central Coast will be smaller but much more organized. Look for waist-chest high+ surf through the morning high tide and then some shoulder-head high sets sneaking through on the low tide later in the day.

Winds look better on Wednesday. Most areas will have light N-NW winds around 10-15 knots through the morning. Central Coast (and Santa Cruz) areas will have N-NW winds around 5 knots through the morning. All areas see building NW winds 10-20+ knots by the afternoon.

I think that your best bet, again, is going to be the more protected areas. They will be a lot cleaner and even though they will be smaller than the more exposed breaks they will still have some healthy sets. The high tide in the morning is a bit problematic but if you can stall your session for a couple of hours past the dawn patrol you will see better shape and better consistency.