Buenos dias! The first day of the norte didn’t have quite the bite that I though it would, as 10 minute sustained winds at the campground yesterday peaked at 22 mph around noon then hovered around 20 mph for the remainder of the day. As predicted by the models the norte peaked overnight, and an evening ASCAT pass measured a large area of 25 knot NNW winds over the Sea of Cortez from just north of La Paz northward to just north of Mulege, with 20 knot winds sampled just east of Cerralvo. Local wind gauges with clear western exposures were measuring occasional NW gusts into the mid 20s early this morning. The latest batch of model forecasts show the norte diminishing this afternoon, but moderate north flow will continue and combine with abundant sunshine to bring us a windy afternoon. Model forecasts are in good agreement that as a surface low approaches southern California on Monday the background flow here will fall to just below the threshold to fully activate our local wind machine. That said it’ll be close, and with full sunshine again expected, we may see a bonus day so best be prepared. Light onshore flow looks likely for Tuesday as the low far to our north moves onshore and the surface pressure gradient over BCS remains weak. Surface high pressure in the eastern Pacific is then forecast to build eastward into the Baja Peninsula on Wednesday and bring a fresh pulse of north flow to the southern Sea of Cortez. Another Pacific storm system will affect California on Thursday and tend to nudge the ridge of high pressure located just to our north southward a bit, and several of the forecast models show our background flow becoming northwest as as result. As the storm system far to our north tracks eastward into the central plains of the U.S. on Friday, surface high pressure from the eastern Pacific is once again forecast to build eastward into BCS with north flow returning and lasting into the weekend.
- Today…Sunny. North wind 20-24 mph.
- Monday…Sunny. North wind 14-16 mph.
- Tuesday…Sunny. East wind 8-10 mph.
- Wednesday…Sunny. North wind 16-20 mph.
- Thursday…Mostly sunny. Northwest wind 10-12 mph.
- Friday…Mostly sunny. North wind 20-24 mph.
- Saturday…Sunny. North wind 18-22 mph.