Where did the forecast go?

Hey guys…I know most of you already know where to find the forecasts now that they are over on Solspot.com…our new, much more powerful site.

But just in case some of you new visitors googled in…I wanted to make sure that you can find all of the new cool stuff. This blog isn’t updating the forecast anymore, all of that has been pushed over to the new site. Here are a few of the links that will hopefully help you find some waves (and hopefully good conditions too.)

For those of you that just wanted the forecast without any of the bells and whistles…The same ol’ Socal Forecast can be found here (this is the normal forecast for all of Southern California and generally gives you all the info you need to find surf for the next day)

http://surf.solspot.com/content/category/short-range-forecast

Here is the link to my long-range forecasts where you can find all the details you need to plan your surf sessions for the next several days, and some even longer range outlooks that can give you a heads up on incoming swells.

http://surf.solspot.com/content/category/long-range-forecast

Since the Southern California coastline is all jacked up (uh I mean unique)…we took the forecast and broke it down into a bunch of different “zones” that help to show how much swell, what sort of wind, and how the tides are going to affect the different regions.

Santa Barbara
Ventura
North LA
the South Bay
North Orange County
South Orange County
North San Diego
South San Diego

If that wasn’t enough we even put together a pretty comprehensive list of the surf breaks and beaches in each region. These aren’t surf reports, but they give very specific weather, wind, tides, water-quality, and a bunch of other cool stuff. When you first drop onto a spot page you will see “Current or Live” information, but if you click around you can find all kinds of cool stuff (like hour-by-hour wind forecasts going out for a full week…just the thing you need to plan a midday session if the winds lay down.) Check em out when you get a chance…

Santa Barbara County Spots
Gaviota State Beach
Arroyo Quemada
Refugio State Beach
El Capitan State Beach
Haskells Beach
Summerland Beach
Goleta Beach
Butterfly Beach
East Beach at Sycamore Creek
Hammonds Beach
Hope Ranch Beach
East Beach at Mission Creek
Sands at Coal Oil Point
Arroyo Burro Beach
Leadbetter Beach
Carpinteria City Beach
Carpinteria State Beach
Rincon Beach

Ventura County Spots
La Conchita Beach
Mussel Shoals Beach
Oil Piers Beach
Hobson County Park
Faria
Solimar Beach
Emma Wood State Beach
C-street
San Buenaventura Beach
Ventura Harbor South Jetty
Surfers Knoll
McGrath State Beach
Oxnard Beach Park
Hollywood by the Sea
Silverstrand
Port Hueneme Beach Park
Point Mugu Beach

North Los Angeles County Spots
County Line Beach
Leo Carrillo Beach
Will Rogers State Beach
Topanga State Beach
Malibu
Santa Monica Beach
Paradise Cove Pier
Zuma Beach




South Los Angeles County Spots
Venice City Beach
Dockweiler
El Porto
Manhattan Beach Pier
Hermosa Redondo Beach
Haggertys
Lunada Bay
Rancho Palos Verdes

North Orange County Spots
Seal Beach
Seal Beach Pier
Surfside Sunset Beach
Bolsa Chica State
Beach
Huntington Cliffs
Huntington City Beach
Huntington State Beach
Santa Ana River Mouth
Upper Jetties Newport
Beach
Newport Pier Blackies
15th Street Newport Beach
Wedge
Corona del Mar Beach
Laguna Beach Crescent Bay Beach
Laguna Beach
Aliso Creek Beach South Laguna

South Orange County Spots
Salt Creek Beach
Dana Point Harbor Baby Beach
Doheny Beach
Capistrano Beach
T Street San Clemente
San Clemente State Beach

North San Diego Spots
Church
Trestles
San Onofre State Beach
Old Mans San Onofre
Trails San Onofre
Oceanside Surfrider Way
Cassidy Street Oceanside
Tamarack Av Carlsbad
Ponto Carlsbad
Beacons Beach Leucadia
Moonlight Beach Encinitas
Swamis Beach Encinitas
Cardiff State Beach San Elijo
Seaside State Park
Del Mar San Dieguito River Beach


South San Diego Spots
Blacks Beach
La Jolla Shores
Windansea Beach
Pacific Beach Tourmaline
Mission Beach
Ocean Beach
Sunset Cliffs
Coronado Beach
Imperial Beach

Orange County Surf Forecast - for Tuesday - 3/30/2010

Make sure to read the full region forecast it has more complete details on the incoming swell and regional conditions. Click here for the full forecast www.socalsurf.com.

WNW-NW swell (280-300) mostly holds on Tuesday while new WNW windswell fills in and the small SW swell fades out.

Average spots will be in the waist high range through the morning. The standout NW facing breaks will have some waist-chest high surf with some inconsistent shoulder high waves mixing it up at times.

Shapewise the onshore wind is going to be the biggest problem…but the high mid-morning tide isn’t going to do us any favors either. Look for cleanest conditions early in the morning…and then bumpy, choppy, shape from mid-morning on. W winds are supposed to get an early jump on things…starting off around 5- 10 knots for the morning and then quickly building into the 12-15 knot range by the afternoon. Patchy fog and cooler air temps will also be on tap throughout the day.

Here are the tides…

03/30/2010 Tuesday
04:06AM LDT -0.7 L
10:05AM LDT 4.8 H
04:00PM LDT 0.3 L
10:05PM LDT 5.9 H

Orange County Surf Forecast - for Monday - 3/29/2010

Make sure to read the full region forecast it has more complete details on the incoming swell and regional conditions. Click here for the full forecast www.socalsurf.com.

New WNW-NW swell (285-300) will be arriving on Monday…mixing with a smaller but slowly building SW swell, and some increasing local windswell. Conditions will be clean for the morning but the high-tide swamp-thing will screw with the surf shape as it peaks around 9-10am.

Average spots will be in the knee-waist high range on Monday. The standout NW facing breaks and the excellent NW/SW combo spots will have some waist-chest high surf with some inconsistent shoulder high waves mixing it up at times.

Look for light winds…mostly variable below 5 knots for the morning. NW winds do start to fill in fairly early…picking up around lunchtime and we can expect them to top out around 13-15+ knots by the afternoon. Chance for some fog through the morning as well.

Here are the tides…

03/29/2010 Monday
03:21AM LDT -0.4 L
09:17AM LDT 5.1 H
03:27PM LDT -0.2 L
09:32PM LDT 5.8 H

Orange County Surf Forecast - Weekend Waves - 3/27-3/28/2010

Make sure to read the full region forecast it has more complete details on the incoming swell and regional conditions. Click here for the full forecast www.socalsurf.com.

Our mix of swells…the SW (195-215), the WNW-NW swell (280-300), and the local windswell will all be on the way down on Saturday and will continue to drop through Sunday. Conditions look great for the weekend…but the tides a bit fat in the morning…so we might end up in race between the dropping swell and the dropping tide.

On Saturday look for most spots to be in the waist high range with a few chest high sets sneaking into the better combo spots once the tide drops. The standout NW/SW breaks and the best combo spots will see some chest-shoulder high sets on the lower tides…but expect some long waits between the sets. By Sunday the surf will be in the knee high range for most of the average spots and just some very inconsistent waist-chest high sets at the standouts.

Nice beach weather this weekend…winds will be light and variable to light offshore for the morning on both Saturday and Sunday…the winds will stay light through the afternoons as well…just going variable onshore but staying around 10-12 knots for most areas.

Here are the tides…

03/27/2010 Saturday
01:47AM LDT 0.9 L
07:39AM LDT 5.3 H
02:19PM LDT -0.7 L
08:29PM LDT 5.0 H

03/28/2010 Sunday
02:34AM LDT 0.2 L
08:29AM LDT 5.3 H
02:54PM LDT -0.5 L
09:00PM LDT 5.4 H

Orange County Surf Forecast - for Friday - 3/26/2010

Make sure to read the full region forecast it has more complete details on the incoming swell and regional conditions. Click here for the full forecast www.socalsurf.com.

Friday will start off with slowly fading SW swell (195-215), some semi-shadowed NW energy, and a bit of local windswell. A new WNW-NW swell (280-300) and more windswell will fill in throughout the day helping to drive up wave heights at the winter spots as we head toward the afternoon.

Look for most spots to see surf in the waist-chest high range…a little inconsistent on the sets because most of the surf will be coming from the SW’er but still rideable when the waves do show. The standout NW facing spots, and the excellent South County SW spots, will have some chest-shoulder high surf a bit more consistently…and the top NW spots will see some head high sets by the afternoon as the new swell fills in a bit more. Shape will be a bit soft/swampy in the morning thanks to the early high-tide…so stick to the high-tide friendly spots if you can.

Winds start off on the light side early…mostly variable out of the North, which blows offshore for some spots and side-shore for others, with wind speeds generally below 10-knots. The wind switches around through the afternoon, eventually blowing out of the W around 12-15+ knots.

Here are the tides…

03/26/2010 Friday
12:55AM LDT 1.5 L
06:44AM LDT 5.2 H
01:42PM LDT -0.7 L
07:59PM LDT 4.4 H

Orange County Surf Forecast - for Thursday - 3/25/2010

Make sure to read the full region forecast it has more complete details on the incoming swell and regional conditions. Click here for the full forecast www.socalsurf.com.

The SW swell (195-215) slowly fades on Thursday while a new mix of NW swell (290-300) and NW windswell build in throughout the day. Unfortunately it looks like onshore winds will start up pretty early…so expect some bumpy shape for the morning and some choppy nastiness by the afternoon.

The average breaks will be around waist high on Thursday…with a few chest high sets showing on the lower tide. The standout SW facing breaks and best combo spots will have shoulder-head high sets…maybe a touch bigger on the afternoon tide push as the windswell and NW energy pulse up.

W winds are expected to pick up early…likely coming onshore around 5-8 knots for the morning but building steadily into the 15-20 knot range by the afternoon.

Here are the tides…

03/25/2010 Thursday
05:41AM LDT 4.9 H
01:02PM LDT -0.5 L
07:31PM LDT 3.9 H

Orange County Surf Forecast - Weekend Waves - 3/20-3/21/2010

Make sure to read the full region forecast it has more complete details on the incoming swell and regional conditions. Click here for the full forecast www.socalsurf.com.

The WNW-NW energy will drop off a bit more on Saturday but won’t completely disappear…the S-SW swell (180-200) will hold pretty steady, losing just a bit of size/consistency but still sending in some fun surf to the well exposed spots.

On Saturday the average breaks will continue to hold around knee-waist high with some inconsistent chest high sets showing at a few of the better combo spots. The standout S facing breaks and the best combo beaches will have surf in the waist-shoulder high range…with some inconsistent bigger sets that will sneak through on the good tides.

Sunday the S-SW swell will back down a bit more but a new WNW-NW swell (285-300) will fill in the background. Most spots will continue to see surf in the knee-waist high range…but the chest high sets will be less consistent as the Southern Hemi fades out. The standout S/NW combo spots will have surf in the waist-chest high range…but we can expect a few shoulder high+ sets mixing in on the lower tides.

Both days look pretty clean during the mornings. Expect light and variable winds for most spots and a few areas with some very light offshore flow. It looks like we will be fighting a bit of a marine layer…maybe even some patchy fog…so don’t be surprised if visibility isn’t always that good. The winds should stay on the light side through the afternoons on both Saturday and Sunday…but expect the sea-breeze to develop enough to driving some variable 10-12 knot onshore flow into the more exposed spots.

Here are the tides…

03/20/2010 Saturday
07:01AM LDT 0.4 L
01:05PM LDT 2.7 H
05:38PM LDT 1.9 L

03/21/2010 Sunday
12:19AM LDT 4.9 H
08:14AM LDT 0.5 L
02:56PM LDT 2.4 H
05:57PM LDT 2.3 L