Author: Mike Godsey

West Coast Wind Blog: Acapulco low pressure brings uncommon mid-March winds for Baja’s East Cape

by Mike Godsey Historically the winds on Baja’s East Cape, Rasta Beach to La Ventana to Los Barriles corridor, begin to fade as spring approaches. This happens as the North Pacific High moves towards Alta California and high-pressure systems in Four Corners become less common. This leaves Baja’s East Cape with only Local Sea Breezes…

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West Coast Wind Blog: Beautiful Baja Sunrises, a love/hate relationship.

Mike Godsey During El Niño years it is more common to have the clouds of the Sub-Tropical Jetstream over Baja Sur. While La Ventana often has nice sunrises these jet clouds This often create spectacular sunrises in the La Ventana area making the village a window to the eastern sunrise. Sometimes the clouds linger the…

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West Coast Wind Blog: North Pacific High gets to intimate with Baja so the wind fizzles.

Forecast Decoder by Mike Godsey: Yesterday, Matts’s forecast, somewhat cryptically, talked about an overly-friendly North Pacific High. Remember the old cliche about “Too much of a good thing”? Normally having a smallish winter-sized 1-2000 mile-wide North Pacific High near Baja is good for the Sea of Cortez winter winds. But as spring approaches and the…

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Caribbean Wind Blog, Part 3: Island topography and Trade Wind strength.

VERY ROUGH DRAFT The topography of a Caribbean island and the strength of the trade winds can have a significant impact on each other. Here’s how: https://wx.iwindsurf.com/map#15.834,-76.217,6,297723 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1364032113006771 Trade winds:https://wx.iwindsurf.com/map#15.834,-76.217,6,297723 Island topography: The Venturi effect in general: The Venturi effect is a principle in fluid dynamics that states that when a fluid (like air) is…

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Caribbean Wind & Reef Blog, Part 3: “Wind reversal” damage on Bonaire and Curaçao.

Mike Godsey “A mighty tremor roused us from sleep at 3 pm in the SandDollar Condos. The ground vibrated beneath us, as colossal waves crashed against the shore. It was unmistakable – the reversal had finally come. Feb. 5, 2024” For starters I should mention that mild “Wind Reversals” can be a blessing since, as…

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