What is a Monsoon? by Mike Godsey, mike@iwindsurf.com Several times each mid summer Southern California coast winds fade away as mid and upper level clouds, humidity and even showers or thunderstorms come over the region. In this situation you will see the media and our forecast use the term “Monsoonal” in the forecast. Most of you think of…
Video: different perspectives of the today’s eddy by Mike Godsey, mike@iwindsurf.com First find the Golden Gate in the video. Then watch for the counter-clockwise spinning winds west of the Gate. The first image shows deep fog covering much of the central bay and the North Bay. Especially notice the huge streamer of fog curving from the Golden Gate into Napa Valley….
Heat wave ends and marine surge fizzles as Upper level high pressure retreats too fast. by Mike Godsey, mike@iwindsurf.com Well last Thursday I forecast a major marine surge to hit the S. F. Bay yesterday and there is no hint to masses of cool fog and strong SW wind pouring through the Golden Gate. What happened? The simple answer is that yesterday…
Watch as an upper trough buds off a Cut-Off Low by Mike Godsey, mike@iwindsurf.com Most sailors, kiters and windsurfers have come to know that a Cut-Off Low is a forecasters woe. One wag on the forums once said of Cut-Off Lows that he suspected we made them up on days when we did not have a clue what would happen…
Video: Upper level high pressure bakes California and The Gorge but big winds a-coming! by Mike Godsey, mike@iwindsurf.com It is rare to have a single satellite video that shows so much weather action. In fact so much is happening today that it is easy to get lost. So first let’s freeze frame all the action and…
Upper level high pressure crushes the marine layer clouds by Mike Godsey, mike@iwindsurf.com The San Francisco Bay Area and The Gorge are about to transition into to a hot weather pattern with a contraction of the wind zone to sites near the coast. Let’s take a look at what causes this by focusing on the…
Set to music of Dire Straits: “I want my NPH” by Mike Godsey, mike at iwindsurf.com The Gorge and the Bay Area are going through a unseasonal wet weak wind period. Normally after a cloudy period like this a burst of wind returns as the North Pacific High slams back to the west coast to reclaim…
Upper level shortwave upper trough brings weak winds to the Bay Area, Gorge and Southern California: What in the world does this geek speak mean? by Mike Godsey, mike@iwindsurf.com Don’t you hate it when the forecast contains geek speak like “An upper level shortwave upper trough will increase the clouds and bring a chance of rain” Of course you don’t have to…
What happens to the North Pacific High when a storm targets the Bay Area: by Mike Godsey Today, Saturday June 22, we have a very unusual winter type storm system moving in from the NW. The storm system, which arrives Monday, consists of an upper trough at about 18,000 ft. and below it 2 surface lows each with counter-clockwise spinning winds….
Cut-Off Low Dies: After almost a week of SW flow just aloft the winds turn NW by Mike Godsey, mike@iwindsurf.com For many days the Bay Area has seen a combo of NW ocean surface winds and SW winds just aloft. NW surface winds typically curve and become more westerly as they come through the gaps in the Bay Area coast…