Gorge rips but location of North Pacific High helps a tiny eddy form west of the Bay Area

by Mike Godsey, mike@iwindsurf.com

Usually I can discern any eddies west of the Golden Gate by their signature in the satellite imagery and looking at all the coast sensors. But today high clouds are obscuring that view and there are few sensors out in the near shore waters. fortunately today all the models actually capture the eddy so I can factor those counter-clockwise spinning winds into the wind forecast. Basically having an eddy off the Golden Gate gives the winds a more southerly cant which favors the north tower to Point Blunt to Pt. Isabel to Sherman Island corridor.

Looking at this video find the North Pacific High and notice how far north it is of the Bay Area. In this location it creates NNW wind on the Oregon coast and stacks some isobars over the Gorge so The Hatch is seeing mid 20’s wind today. But given the angle of our coast line north of the Bay Area these winds can not fill into the beaches or curve into the gaps in the coast range very well. This creates a perfect scenario of a counter-clockwise spinning eddy. Look very carefully just west of the Bay Area in the video and you can see this eddy.

With thanks to http://earth.nullschool.net