by Mike Godsey, mike AT iwindsurf.com Note: This blog uses Southern California as an example of picking the best model using ship reports but the basic idea of the blog is relevant to all regions in the USA. On winter days as I walk through the La Ventana campground I am always impressed by the…
by Mike Godsey, mikeATiwindsurf.com As you can see in my banner animation above lots of sites had strong wind yesterday. The day played out pretty much as outlined in my 2 recent blogs about convergence aloft and the two NPH’s merging. This blog shows how the surface winds you see in the banner were related…
Upper convergence and divergence the strength of the North Pacific High: by Mike Godsey, mikeATiwindsurf.com ROUGH DRAFT There is a tendency of many kiters and especially sailors to look at the wind from a 2-dimensional perspective. This means we only care about the direction and strength of the wind. Although kiters are sometimes aware that their…
After long NW wind drought the Northern California coast is poised to rip next week! by Mike Godsey, mikeATiwindsurf.com If you kite or sail near the Northern California coast you are aware that our typical NW clearing winds have been sparse this year. First, we had a prolonged Omega Block that kept low pressure just…
by Mike Godsey, mikeATiwindsurf.com, More photos here Lots of you know about the thermal trough (aka “heat bubble”) that can kill some Southern California sites, especially from Belmont to Seal, when we get a major heat event. But if I am right we will be dealing with another thermal trough tomorrow, Monday, April 1. This…
by Mike Godsey, Mike AT iwindsurf.com This symbol, omega, is the last letter of the Greek alphabet and a famous watch brand. But in meteorology, it is the shape of the omega symbol, written in our upper-level winds, that has locked most of the west coast into a weather pattern with little day to day…
by Mike Godsey, mail: mike AT iwindsurf Recent days have seen cool powerful easterly winds in the western Gorge, powerful Santa Ana winds for Southern California, nagging wind killing NE winds just aloft over the Bay Area. And for the great majority of kiters and windsurfers, these easterly winds are useless. But there is one…
by Mike Godsey, Mike AT iwindsurf.com About 25 years ago, when the first windsurfers “discovered” La Ventana, “Weather Man” Tom and I started studying Baja winds using the daily data collection form you see in this first image. Since then my main goal was to figure out what caused the La Ventana and Los Barriles,…
Strong North Pacific High + low pressure in Great Basin + strong winds aloft = Epic winds! by Mike Godsey, mike AT iwindsurf.com Strong wind ruled the west coast on March 12, 2019. Here is a visual summary of the causes and the results: Note the North Pacific High off the west coast. Look at…
Weak winds prevail today as eddy spins. by Mike Godsey, mike AT iwindsurf.com There is a robust North Pacific High today stretching from Hawaii to Puget Sound. But it has an extension or ridge that is moving towards the Columbia River Gorge. This means that the North Pacific High’s surface NW winds are more NNE…