by Mike Godsey, mikeATiwindsurf.com Pismo Beach saw strong winds today but Isla Vista to Ledbetter only had weak winds as 3 different wind masses battled over the area this afternoon. This animation shows the story and an upcoming blog will fill in the details
by Mike Godsey, mikeATiwindsurf.com The forecast was for scattered showers as a wintry cold front moved over the Bay Area and then broke up. While the afternoon saw upper-teens to maybe 2o clearing winds. But the actual winds barely reached the upper-teens at some sites and the Waddell did not even reach the mid-teens forecast….
by Mike Godsey Hurricane Dorian is bearing down on our hundred+ hardened weather stations along the eastern seaboard. As you can see in the attached photos these stations are massive and designed to survive at least 140 mph winds. This sensor mesonet will be providing critical information for the NWS/NOAA during the landfall. Here is…
by Mike Godsey, mikeATiwindsurf.com ROUGH DRAFT There was a recent forum thread on the Gorge Classic iwindsurf.com page asking “are there gustier winds this summer?” The forum thread had answers ranging from “Obviously!” to “I hear this every year!” How you expereince gusts is impacted by many things like your gear, sail size, years in…
by Mike Godsey, mikeATiwindsurf.com Check out this wishy-washy forecast today. Basically, I am said that the winds might be strong or might be weak. Why couldn’t I pin it down more precisely for Pismo and Isla Vista to Ledbetter? Basically, because there was a going to be a battle waged over both sites as NNE to…
by Mike Godsey, mike@iwindsurf.com Backcast: Pt. Isabel low to mid 20’s was clearly stronger than the mid to upper-teens I forecast! Why can’t we forecast such strong eddy winds reliably? Just take a look at this hourly animation of the eddy today August 18, 2019. Notice how much it changes from hour to hour and…
by Mike Godsey, mike@iwindsurf.com Yesterday, Wed. August 14, 2019 I really blew the Isla Vista to Ledbetter forecast and Ventura went over the mid-teens forecast. True, I did warn of “much stronger winds than forecast if the Gaviota eddy died” But still… it was a crappy forecast. This an animated blog about what happened that…
by Mike Godsey, mike@iwindsurf.com As you all know the location, thickness and movement of the marine layer clouds are critical in making the winds at every site in the San Francisco Bay Area. The same is true in forecasting. The difference is that we have to try to forecast where the clouds will be many…
by Mike Godsey, mike@iwindsurf.com Forecasting for Pismo winds in the summer is very tricky and we are slowly learning the complexities of this area. Here are some of our baby steps up the Pismo forecasting learning curve. The marine layer clouds are often way inland in the morning in the Pismo area. But despite the clouds…
by Mike Godsey, mike@iwindsurf.com On this day the WF-WRF barely showed a hint of an eddy. The NAM surface had a better hint. But, as I have noticed again and again for larger elongated eddies, the 950 & 975 NAM do a very good job forecasting existence of an eddy and its duration. Also notice…