Author: MasViento

¡Buenos dias! Although an Oceansat pass last evening measured similar background NNW flow to what we’ve enjoyed the last several days, infrared satellite loops this morning showed a band of thickening high clouds was creeping northward into our area, and this will likely at least partially dampen our local thermal today. A couple of the model forecasts do show some thin spots may form this afternoon in the cloud shield, so I’ll be optimistic that we can get just enough filtered sunshine to give us a rideable day. Most of the high clouds should move off to the east on Sunday, and model forecasts show just enough north background flow will continue to bring us a windy afternoon. Similar conditions are expected on Monday, but we may see a few more high clouds returning. Strong surface high pressure is forecast to build into the southwestern U.S. on Tuesday and send a surge of north wind down the Sea of Cortez, with norte conditions expected here. The norte should subside a bit on Wednesday, but we will still likely see another windy afternoon. Long-range model forecasts disagree on the amount of north background flow that will remain on Thursday and Friday, but a couple of them do show enough to continue our streak of windy days.

• Today…Partly sunny. North wind 16-18 mph.
• Sunday…Sunny. North wind 16-20 mph.
• Monday…Mostly sunny. North wind 16-18 mph.
• Tuesday…Mostly sunny. North wind 22-26 mph and gusty.
• Wednesday…Mostly sunny. North wind 20-24 mph.
• Thursday…Mostly sunny. North wind 16-18 mph.
• Friday…Sunny. North wind 16-18 mph.

¡Buenos dias! A pair of ASCAT satellites measured 10-15 knot winds over the southern Sea of Cortez last evening, and again, all of the most recent forecast model runs show similar background north flow will continue today. Infrared satellite loops do show a few thin, high clouds streaming in from the west, but we should see ample sunshine to trigger our local thermal. The surface high centered far to our north over Utah will gradually weaken tomorrow, but enough background north flow will continue, and with only some thin, high clouds expected from time to time, we should add to this latest windy streak (see nerd note below). It now appears that a weak ridge of high pressure will form over the central Baja Peninsula on Sunday and last through Monday…with just enough north flow to give us rideable days. Strong high pressure is then forecast to build into the southwestern U.S. on Tuesday, with norte conditions developing here. The norte may continue through next Wednesday, but long-range model forecasts show winds decreasing substantially on Thursday.

• Today…Mostly sunny. North wind 18-22 mph.
• Saturday…Mostly sunny. North wind 16-20 mph.
• Sunday…Sunny. North wind 16-20 mph.
• Monday…Mostly sunny. North wind 16-18 mph.
• Tuesday…Mostly sunny. North wind 22-26 mph and gusty.
• Wednesday…Sunny. North wind 22-26 mph.
• Thursday…Mostly sunny. North wind 16-20 mph.

Nerd Note: So far it seems like this has been one of the best windy seasons in recent memory, so I did a quick check of the number of windy days so far. Using the metric of sustained winds of 15 mph or more for at least 1 hour, there were 22 days in November, or 73%! The trend has continued into December, with 100% of the days so far meeting those criteria. If the current extended range model forecasts hold, we could see kiteable winds through the 16th of December. Our current windy streak started on November 28th, so that would make 19 straight days!!