North Pacific High’s winds rip in Southern California

by Mike Godsey, mike AT iwindsurf.com

It is not too often that San Diego has low 20’s wind at dawn. While these winds will quickly drop into the mid-teens at San Diego rest of Southern California will see strong NW to WNW winds this afternoon.

This first image shows the North Pacific High spanning the waters of the Pacific from Hawaii to Southern California. Notice how the winds make a curve near San Diego to become westerly winds.

These winds will be strong and early for a number of reasons.

The next image shows the isobars of the North Pacific High over the Southern California
Bight. The tight isobars means a strong pressure gradient and creates strong ocean wind. But also notice the tight isobars in the interior. This means a strong pressure gradient to the east which will curve and suck those NW ocean winds over the ocean beaches.