Saturday, January 7, 2017

PRNW Forecast of 2016-0107a

Not much swell wrapping in and I opted not to drive up to Wilderness today. Let the surf-starved hordes descend and maybe I will check it out in a couple of days. A lot of feast or famine for the next week.


  Model Cycle: 2017 JAN 07 06Z          
  Time Zone: GMT - 4 hours              
-------------------------------------------------------------
             SURF    SURF DIR   SEAS  PERIOD   WIND    WND/DIR
             (ft)       (deg)   (ft)   (sec)   (kts)     (deg)
            -------  --------  -----  ------  -------  -------
1/7    8am   4 -  8   NE  41    4.1    16.1    9 - 13    E  89
1/7    2pm   3 -  7   NE  41    4.2    15.5    6 -  8   NE  36
1/7    8pm   4 -  8   NE  42    4.8    14.7    8 - 11    E  98
 
1/8    8am   3 -  7   NE  40    4.5    13.7    7 - 10    E  85
1/8    2pm   3 -  6   NE  40    4.1    13.4    5 -  7  NNE  12
1/8    8pm   3 -  6   NE  40    3.9    13.0    8 - 11  ENE  68
 
1/9    8am   2 -  5   NE  40    3.6    12.4   12 - 16  ENE  52
1/9    2pm   2 -  5   NE  39    3.6    11.8   13 - 18   NE  39
1/9    8pm   2 -  5   NE  37    4.0    11.7   15 - 20   NE  48
 
1/10   2am   4 -  9  NNW 336    6.6    11.3   15 - 20   NE  43
1/10   8am   5 - 11  NNW 340    8.6    10.8   17 - 23  ENE  59
1/10   2pm   5 - 11  NNW 346    9.4    10.5   18 - 24   NE  49
1/10   8pm   6 - 13    N 353   11.0    10.4   20 - 27  ENE  55
 
1/11   8am   6 - 13    N   6   10.8    10.2   19 - 26  ENE  51
1/11   2pm   6 - 12    N   9   10.2    10.0   19 - 26   NE  45
1/11   8pm   5 - 11  NNE  15    9.5     9.9   18 - 25  ENE  52
 
1/12   8am   5 - 10  NNE  20    9.0     9.8   18 - 24   NE  48
1/12   2pm   6 - 12  NNE  25   10.0    10.3   16 - 22   NE  42
1/12   8pm   8 - 16   NE  33   10.6    13.0   17 - 23   NE  38
 
1/13   8am   8 - 16   NE  33   11.2    12.3   16 - 22  ENE  58
1/13   2pm   7 - 15   NE  33   11.1    11.8   18 - 25  ENE  52
1/13   8pm   7 - 15   NE  34   10.8    11.6   17 - 24  ENE  60
 
1/14   2am   7 - 14   NE  35   10.6    11.2   17 - 24  ENE  60
 
SHORT TERM FORECAST (THROUGH SUNDAY 1/8): 
Highlights: NE swell fills in today into Sunday, mainly for the N coast. 
Conditions are most favorable in the mornings. 
 

We are expecting longer period NE swell from low pressure near the 
Azores to filter in over the weekend and offer fun surf for the better 
breaks along the N coast. The NE swell will mix in with continued ENE 
trade windswell to offer surf in the waist to chest+ range today, 
biggest late in the day. NE swell and ENE trade windswell continues on 
Sunday with waves in the chest/shoulder high zone and sets up to around 
head high as the swell peaks. Keep in mind that due to the swell 
direction breaks around Rincon will be a few notches smaller than the N 
coast over the weekend. 
 
EXTENDED SURF FORECAST (MONDAY 1/9 AND BEYOND):  
 
We are expecting a mix of lingering NE swell and ENE trade windswell for Monday to offer 
surf in the waist-chest high zone for breaks along the N coast. A small 
amount of NNW swell will also mix in and provide surf in around the 
1-2'+ range for the Rincon area though bigger sets are possible for the 
better northerly facing breaks. Conditions look best in the morning 
before trade winds come up some in the afternoon. 
 
Low pressure  develops along an old frontal boundary and moves quickly through the 
western Atlantic during the weekend while high pressure builds over the 
eastern US. This pattern sets up a large area of NW/N winds directed 
towards the Caribbean which will set up a healthy dose of NW/NNW swell 
that fills in on Tuesday with double overhead sets likely towards the 
middle and second half of the day. A mix of NNW swell and N/NE windswell
 offers surf in the well overhead to double overhead+ range for Wednesday.  
 
 The major issue will be our local winds on Tuesday
 and Wednesday as strong NNE/NE winds will really limit the number of 
breaks that see manageable conditions. Most breaks along the N coast 
will be blown out with out of control conditions. The more tucked away 
spots on the NW side of the island will be smaller but worth a look for 
manageable conditions both Tuesday and Wednesday. 
 
 A frontal boundary associated with the low pressure system that exits over the 
weekend looks to linger over the central Atlantic into early/mid next 
week while high pressure builds towards the US East Coast. Some of the 
model guidance suggests a wave of low pressure could develop along that 
front to the north of the island which would impact our surf and wind 
outlook for the second half of next week. At this point confidence is 
increasing that large N/NNE windswell/swell mix will continue for the 
island next Thursday/Friday and likely into next weekend. The wind 
forecast for that time period is more uncertain due to the potential low
 pressure system — stay tuned as we fine tune the outlook over the 
coming days.
                 

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