Coast hit with high waves

WEATHER TIDBITS

Boy, did we ever party with Doug and Elida.

Cabo was 15-foot plus for a solid week. Doug and Elida were two

party animals that achieved category four status.

The couple, only a few days apart, tracked northwest about 500

miles south of the tip generating 15- to 20-foot waves at the cape

with their energy even reaching our shores at 5 to 10 feet.

It’s the first time since ‘97, when Guillermo and Hillary paid us

a 10-day visit with 6- to 12-foot 165- to 185-degree south bangers.

The crazy thing about Guillermo was he traveled full circle and sent

us a northwest groundswell 10 days after he gave us a seven-day

swell. Crazy things happen when we get El Nino.

Like I said, it’s the first time in five years that we’ve seen

back to back strong hurricanes.

I think the tone has been set for this season, more storm

production, and stronger storms, and moving more northwest than west.

Our water temps have been behaving like the Dow Jones as of late.

From 71 degrees to 62 degrees, then back to 72 degrees Sunday and

back down to 65 degrees Tuesday. Every time those unwelcome stinkin’

westerlies blow, we lose five to seven degrees overnight!

Still no heat waves.

L.A. did get up to 90 degrees one day last week and that was it.

Yesterday’s L.A. high was 78 degrees, seven degrees below normal.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many sub-80 degree highs in the

last four summers now. What’s up with that?

* DENNIS McTIGHE is a Laguna Beach resident. He earned a

bachelor’s degree in Earth Sciences from UCSD and was a U.S. Air

Force weatherman at Hickman AFB, Hawaii.