The La Ventana & Los Barriles launch site wind forecast for the current day can be found on iwindsurf.com or kitesurf.com.
Typically El Niño years are bad for La Ventana and Los Barriles winds. So far this season we have had good winds but this week El Niño is weakening out winds. Today we are seeing a triple whammy that probably stems from El Niño.
The storm, labeled in red, is bring the heaviest rains in history to parts of Southern California. The same storm and the upper level winds from the former Cut Off Low above it are also blocking Baja’s 2 large scale high-pressure wind machines. This pattern is more likely to occur in El Niño years.The next factor is the heavy clouds of the Sub Tropical Jet Stream that blanket Baja from near La Paz to way south of Cabo. These clouds weaken the heating in the Coastal Valleys that is critical to curve the winds into our beaches. This pattern is more likely to occur in El Niño years.And far aloft is a third wind enemy. During El Niño years the upper level winds are more likely to follow a more southerly pathway and as these winds DIVERGE over the Great Basin they impact the high-pressure critical for Sea of Cortez El Norte winds. With high-pressure further away from us our large scale winds weaken. At the same time the low-pressure that is normally south of Cabo and sucks the El Norte winds southward moves north spoiling our pressure gradient.
