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….
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 –…
by Mike Godsey, mikeATiwindsurf.com Did you notice fast the sky changed today from crystal blue to cloudy? That event is something we have been forecasting for days. Clearly, something is about to happen. Remember the old days when it seemed that wind was just about the pressure gradient? And while the forecasts were crappy more…
When looking at gradients in the Gorge, we often look for a thermal low, connected to the Great Basin, which often sits in the Columbia Plateau most of the summer. But in Spring, when upper level lows are present, a surface low pressure gets created out ahead, under the highest Differential Potential Vorticity Advection (DPVA)….
The winter 2019-2021 season in Baja was atypical in a number of ways. It started off with a bang in November but from that point on the winds were often unreliable unless you were on foils or big kites or sail. Or if you were there during one of the few strong wind periods. But…
by Mike Godsey In normal years the bulk of the strong wind at the kite and windsurf sites in the Los Barriles and La Ventana areas comes from high pressure in the Great Basin area of the USA. However, the 2019-2020 winter season has seen lots of days when an unusually robust North Pacific High…
by Mike Godsey, mikeATiwindsurf.com Many years ago I spent 3 months per year doing underwater research on Pomacentrids around the islands of the Sea of Cortez. One thing that always struck me was how incredibly fast the weather could go from calm to strong winds. The next 24 hours will brings such a change as…
by Mike Godsey, mikeATiwindsurf.com Do you like gambles? So here is a big meteorological gamble. Today Dec. 1, 2019, I am forecasting a big El Norte winds event for the entire Sea of Cortez for Monday, Dec. 16. Normally I would not stick my neck out so far but this is a major event and…