Sites on the Web to Visit
Local Eye on the Weather
By Dougald Scott
Local Eye on the Weather
By Dougald Scott
When I think about all of the weather information that I have at my fingertips for planning a fishing trip, I am truly awed. I'm afraid though, that I mostly take it for granted, and am cranky when something goes wrong and I can't download the current swell in Monterey Bay. Here are some of my favorite sites for checking local conditions:
Weather buoy 46042. This should be your basic guidepost. It gives you realtime wind, wave height, sea and air temperatures and much more from a buoy about 20 miles SSW of Santa Cruz Harbor. This site also provides a link to local NOAA weather. http://seaboard.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.phtml?$station=46042
Current Wave Heights in Monterey Bay. This site provides a map showing current, color-coded wave heights in Monterey Bay. http://cdip.ucsd.edu/models/monterey.gif
Wave Prediction Model. This site gives you a three day prediction of what wave heights will be for the California coast. You can also link to a three day prediction map for Monterey Bay. http://cdip.ucsd.edu/elnino_htmls/homepage.shtml
Tides for Santa Cruz. This is a great site. You can see the local tides in table form or ask it to print out a "wave graphic" of the upcoming tides. You can also find tide predictions for just about anywhere in the world. http://tbone.biol.sc.edu/tide/tideshow.cgi?site=Santa+Cruz%2C+California
Current NOAA Radar Image. Need the rain gear? Here you can see the latest Doppler radar image for the San Francisco Region. www.wrh.noaa.gov/radar/latest/DS.p19r0/si.kmux.shtml
Long Marine Lab. Sometimes you want to know what the wind is doing on the North Coast, next to shore. In this case the 46042 weather buoy wonąt do you any good, but the LML site will give you wind conditions close to Natural Bridges. http://sapphire.cse.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/reinaslite-site?lmlmet
Moss Landing Conditions. During salmon season, you often end up heading down toward Moss Landing. You can check out local conditions there at http://sapphire.cse.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/reinaslite-site?mbarimlmet