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,…
by Matt Souders with graphics by Mike Godsey. This historic early-season easterly wind event got off to a dangerous start this morning. High winds over Yakima, WA fanned the flames over an 80 sq. mile wildfire. The smoke from that fire can be seen in this visible satellite loop arcing SW, then westward over the…
Part 1 the big picture. The headlines are heating up about record temperatures being set from Salt Lake City to Tucson to Dallas and to the 0 percent contained ravaging Southern California fires. At this time it looks like Death Valley, the hottest place on the planet, will reach 127 by Monday. In response, the…
Gusts and lulls, up and down, crazy wind. Why are winds sometimes mild and other times wild? There are many complex meteorological causes for the turbulence that causes gusts and lulls, but here we focus on gusts and lulls winds where the causes are very local and easy to visualize. The local cause of gusts…
Way back in June I said in the iwindsurf.com forums: “Hi jgda, …we are in the early phase of a La Nina pattern. This means wider N-S swings in the pattern of upper trough and upper ridges inbound from the Pacific We will probably have more such swings this summer which in theory means more…
surfersteve wrote: “It feels like the corridor (Hatchery/Cheap stretch) has been particularly lumpy this year regarding of water level, flow rate, or wind direction. Curious if others have thoughts on this.” Hi Steve, The short answer is in the image below. Longer answer: Swell size and period and steepness vs. chop is related to: 1….
Due to COVID restrictions, many of us will miss the skies lighting up with fireworks this 4th of July but though the celebrations will be atypical the weather will quickly shift this week into a more traditional summer pattern. Heat surges up through the center of the country over the next couple of days and…
by Mike Godsey, mike@iwindsurf.com & Matt Sounders A few days ago I wrote a blog about the strange Cut-Off Low at ≈ 18,000 ft. feet between Hawaii and Baja that was tracking towards San Francisco where it would bring epic winds. Then how the Cut-Off Low would create explosive winds for the Gorge First –…