Noaa Forecasts For The Weekend Of 5/7/05

[triton94949]

Weather for the weekend of 5/7/05 is forecasted by NOAA to be as
follows:


For the Sonoma Coast:

POINT ARENA TO PIGEON POINT OUT TO 20 NM-

FRI NIGHT...NW WINDS 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 2 FT. W SWELL 3 TO
5 FT AT 9 SECONDS. .

SAT...W TO NW WINDS 5 TO 15 KT...BECOMING S BY LATE AFTERNOON. WIND
WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 3 TO 5 FT. .

SAT NIGHT...S WINDS 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 3 TO 5
FT. CHANCE OF RAIN. .

SUN...S WINDS 10 TO 20 KT...BECOMING W 5 TO 15 KT IN THE AFTERNOON
AND EVENING. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. MIXED SWELL S 3 TO 5 FT AND W 2
TO 4 FT. CHANCE OF RAIN.


For the Monterey Coast:

PIGEON POINT TO POINT PIEDRAS BLANCAS OUT TO 20 NM-

FRI NIGHT...NW WINDS 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 2 FT. W SWELL 3 TO
5 FT AT 9 SECONDS. .

SAT...NW WINDS 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 4 TO 5
FT. .

SAT NIGHT...W TO NW WINDS 5 TO 15 KT...BECOMING S TOWARD DAYBREAK.
WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 4 TO 5 FT. SLIGHT CHANCE OF RAIN. .

SUN...S WINDS 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. MIXED SWELL S 3 TO 5
FT AND W 2 TO 4 FT. CHANCE OF RAIN.


These are not great conditions for scuba. For boat diving, the boat
will rock and roll under the combination of the wind waves on top of
the swell. For beach diving, if you can find a protected cove
during a calm part of the day, it might be ok, and then again it
might not be ok, and that is called "IF-FY" or "DICEY" by most
accounts. Saturday will probably be better than Sunday. Vis will
probably not be very good due to the swell action.

Good luck, whatever the rest of you all decide to do.

 

[melfox26]

Weather for the weekend of 5/7/05 is forecasted by NOAA to be as
follows:


For the Sonoma Coast:

POINT ARENA TO PIGEON POINT OUT TO 20 NM-

FRI NIGHT...NW WINDS 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 2 FT. W SWELL 3 TO
5 FT AT 9 SECONDS. .

SAT...W TO NW WINDS 5 TO 15 KT...BECOMING S BY LATE AFTERNOON. WIND
WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 3 TO 5 FT. .

SAT NIGHT...S WINDS 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 3 TO 5
FT. CHANCE OF RAIN. .

SUN...S WINDS 10 TO 20 KT...BECOMING W 5 TO 15 KT IN THE AFTERNOON
AND EVENING. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. MIXED SWELL S 3 TO 5 FT AND W 2
TO 4 FT. CHANCE OF RAIN.


For the Monterey Coast:

PIGEON POINT TO POINT PIEDRAS BLANCAS OUT TO 20 NM-

FRI NIGHT...NW WINDS 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 2 FT. W SWELL 3 TO
5 FT AT 9 SECONDS. .

SAT...NW WINDS 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 4 TO 5
FT. .

SAT NIGHT...W TO NW WINDS 5 TO 15 KT...BECOMING S TOWARD DAYBREAK.
WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 4 TO 5 FT. SLIGHT CHANCE OF RAIN. .

SUN...S WINDS 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. MIXED SWELL S 3 TO 5
FT AND W 2 TO 4 FT. CHANCE OF RAIN.


These are not great conditions for scuba. For boat diving, the boat
will rock and roll under the combination of the wind waves on top of
the swell. For beach diving, if you can find a protected cove
during a calm part of the day, it might be ok, and then again it
might not be ok, and that is called "IF-FY" or "DICEY" by most
accounts. Saturday will probably be better than Sunday. Vis will
probably not be very good due to the swell action.

Good luck, whatever the rest of you all decide to do.

Looks great to me, but we dive in "storm threshold" swells. =)

The viz will probably suck due to the swell model being pretty flat recently.


Mel

 

[mossym]

yeah, that looks pretty good for monterey, that's what it was for last weekend, and it was flat, course mel is right about the viz, but we can't have everything

 

[JustinW]

That looks like excellent conditions. Not sure what you are talking about being "dicey." Unless you are new to the area, thats pretty standard. A west swell leaves the entire north side of the monterey peninsula totally sheltered. Also with a west swell going around to pebble beach will be nice too. Look for the breakwater to be crowded with classes due to the weather this weekend. A bit of rain rarely dampens to spirits of those that are already wet . Also try this NOAA link for monterey weather, its actually for Monterey and not just the region, it can give more location specific information.

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mtr/getcwfzone.php?sid=MTR&zone=PZ535

 

[triton94949]

That looks like excellent conditions. Not sure what you are talking about being "dicey." Unless you are new to the area, thats pretty standard...

Not new, just really really spoiled. Spoiled by those mirror flat days along the North Coast when the air is warm and the water is crystal clear and the vis is 40+ feet.

The local (non-NOAA) forecasts are predicting a clear day on Saturday both for the Sonoma Coast and the Monterey Coast. If you are not spoiled, then Saturday may be a pretty good "average" day for scuba here.

 

[mossym]

thats pretty much what the NOAA is saying as well..3-5? that's pretty flat..especially with a west swell..it doesn't mean you're going to have 5 foot waves breaking on you on a shore dive..

 

[triton94949]

thats pretty much what the NOAA is saying as well..3-5? that's pretty flat..especially with a west swell..it doesn't mean you're going to have 5 foot waves breaking on you on a shore dive..

Perfect would be 1 to 3 ft swell, 0 to 1/2 ft chop.

I always have to laugh when people go out on what I consider to be "marginal" days, and then they report "oh the vis was so disappointing."

 

[Ishie]

Perfect would be 1 to 3 ft swell, 0 to 1/2 ft chop.

I always have to laugh when people go out on what I consider to be "marginal" days, and then they report "oh the vis was so disappointing."

Eh, one of the worst days I ever went out (and shouldn't have, in retrospect) with about 2' vis was the day I saw my first octopus.

Plus I've noticed that some days that are a little rough actually don't have bad vis, and some of the dead days during summer are so green, you can't see anything. Ab dived the north coast on a Sunday where every aluminum boat was going back in (we were in a Zodiac) and the conditions were scary-rough, and it was great vis.

 

[triton94949]

Eh, one of the worst days I ever went out (and shouldn't have, in retrospect) with about 2' vis was the day I saw my first octopus.

Plus I've noticed that some days that are a little rough actually don't have bad vis, and some of the dead days during summer are so green, you can't see anything. Ab dived the north coast on a Sunday where every aluminum boat was going back in (we were in a Zodiac) and the conditions were scary-rough, and it was great vis.

Youre getting a really good handle on my definition of "dicey."

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

I hope nobody stayed home based on Karl's (triton94949, formerly known as
northcoast_diver (sp?), DeepTechScuba, and Karl In California) analysis of the
conditions. Reports from Montrey on Saturday sounded decent:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ba_diving/message/25151
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ba_diving/message/25154
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ba_diving/message/25161

Here's what's wrong with Karl's analysis:

1. A five foot swell is actually pretty nice conditions in Monterey.

2. A swell from the west and south means that the normal dive areas at the south
end of Monterey and Carmel Bays are protected.

3. Vis has little or nothing to do with the surface conditions until the swell gets bigger
than you'd like to dive in and the surge stirs up the bottom. Vis has much more to do
with what green stuff is growing in the water.

Want to learn how to read the forecasts:
http://www.garlic.com/~triblet/swell/Inet1XMP.html

Me: I was in Madison, Wisconsin at a wedding. Guess I missed some nice diving. Oh
well. ;-(