By Keaton Browning / Surfline.com / April 9, 2019
The Bottom Line
- Surf Trend: Rising NW winds and windswell on Tues PM. Jumbled surf through Wed, but possibly cleaning up Thur AM.
- Novice: Probably best to hold off for possible cleaner conditions, smaller surf Friday into the weekend.
- Tides: AM lows, PM highs (but not deep tides).
- Water Temps: Upper 50s for many areas, low 60s for South LA, South OC and San Diego.
- Also Watch Out For: Periods of strong onshore wind Tues; Another SSW swell lining up for next week.
Today, April 9th: 3-4’+ in the morning, trending up to 4-6’+ by afternoon. Rising NW winds/windswell. Old NW swell mix fades out as a fresh round of NW windswell fills in through the day with waist-shoulder high+ range. Good NW exposures in Ventura, the South Bay, parts of OC and much of San Diego trend up into the shoulder-head high+ zone, showing strongest and sloppiest in the afternoon. Focal points in those regions will offer up overhead sets before dark. Note 1 – that the dashboards/LOLA is low and we’re expecting more short period NW swell than wave model predictions.
Meanwhile, new Southern Hemi swell on the rise: We saw a pair of decent looking storms through the central South Pacific last week as strong high pressure set up near New Zealand. We’re seeing this energy build/peak downstream in Cabo/Central America so we’er track for fun size SSW swell (195-180). However, winds look to be the issue over the next 48-72 hours. Note 2 – This storm is performing above model guidance and should be more in that 2.5-3′ of deepwater range (much lower on dashboards).
For Tuesday, mainly light/light+ onshore winds at dawn patrol from Ventura to San Diego (varying from W to SW winds). By late morning/midday, wind rises up from the WNW-NW direction and will be strong by afternoon. All in all, best to capitolize early (albeit possible minor texture/lump), before conditions are blown-out later in the day.
