Have you ever heard a meteorologist talk about an “inversion”? Or maybe you read about a “low-level inversion” in a National Weather Service forecast discussion and wondered what that means? If so, you’re in luck. Let’s break down what a temperature inversion is, how it forms and “breaks”, and why it matters to wind sports…
So for days, my Baja forecast has been calling for very strong winds Sunday, Dec 13, 2020. But as the date finally arrived I was only calling for upper-teens to low 20’s for the La Ventana to Los Barriles area. Why? Well the expected high pressure developed in the 4 corners (where all the USA…
The Baja’s East Cape kiteboarding and windsurfing sites Los Barriles and La Ventana have seen almost 2 weeks of great wind. But on December 9, 2020, those winds came to a grinding halt. This occurred as 2 low-pressure systems blocked both of the Baja wind machines. In this animation of both satellite imagery and model output,…
The last week of November 2020 has see day of winds over 20 knots for La Ventana, Baja Sur, Mexico. The graphic below shows the large high pressure area that has changed shape and size a lot over this period but has stay centered in the Great Basin and 4 corners (where all the USA…
This animation shows how large scale events distant California both vertically and horizontally can impact our temperatures and winds. Looking at this animation first notice the upper trough and upper ridge that are moving towards the Golden State from the west. Focus on the upper ridge which is a northward extending loop of upper-level winds at…
The Western United States has been sitting under a strong upper-level High-pressure system. So we have had a long string of satellite pictures that look like this (below). Hardly a cloud to be found. High pressure pushes the air toward the ground, resulting in descending air that warms and dries out. Also, each night as…
Once again the west coast has a dome of high pressure over the entire region. For the San Francisco Bay Area this dome of upper-level high pressure at ≈ 18,000 ft. has: 1. Crushed the marine layer to a patchy thin layer of fog. 2. Compacted all the smoke down to near the surface. 3. Created…
Weatherflow San Francisco Bay Area wind forecast by Mike Godsey San Francisco Bay Area forecast at 11:30 AM: Looking at over a dozen cams about the Bay Area and at the satellite imagery we see an apocalyptic scene filled with reddish smoke intermingled with marine layer fog. Streetlights are still on at 11 AM and…
by Meteorologist Kerry Anderson California is seeing unprecedented heat this Labor Day weekend. Sunday the National Weather Service reported a temperature of 120 in Reseda. Meanwhile, the Santa Barbara shoreline barely broke into the 70s. Why such contrasts? First, we are seeing an astonishingly strong upper-level ridge over the area. Monday’s 500mb map (below) indicates…
If the model data is right it looks like we are transitioning into 7 days of a steadily enlarging eddy. To put this in perspective… 20 years ago we saw an eddy once or twice a season. This animation below shows some of the major surface players in creating this scenario over the next…