Surface eddy and SW flow for the Bay Area  

by Mike Godsey, mike@iwindsurf.com

I will add more text to this blog later today but right now the wind calls so this has to be brief.

Yesterday, July 9, the S. F. Bay Area saw strong SW flow that really jacked up the Sherman Island winds while messing up the wind at many sites that are normally wind.

So where did all this SW flow come from? The proximal cause is clearly illustrated in the first video.

Note the huge counter-clockwise spinning eddy over 200 miles wide west of the Bay Area. Don’t confuse this monster with the common tiny Golden Gate eddy that forms just west of the Golden Gate. The typical size of the Golden Gate eddy is indicated by the  “O” in the video.

The big question is “What causes this monster eddy you see in the video?”

The next set of images will give you the picture and I will provide the words later today.