Back with a vengeance

WEATHER TIDBITS

More el Nino 2002-03 symptoms are popping up. Mr. El Nino’s first

visit since 1997 has gotten off to a feistier start than previously

expected.

What kind of symptoms?

A Category 4 typhoon, way late in the season, nails Guam.

Then it goes extra tropical and hooks up with an eastward bound

central Pacific deep low and plow east toward our West Coast,

unleashing nearly a foot of rain in some parts of the Bay Area.

And there’s more lined up, like ducks in a shooting gallery. Big

‘ol comma clouds or cinnamon rolls.

It’s looking like Northern and Central California are going to

equal all last season’s rain in just a week or less, same with snow.

With the exception of a brief three-day flat spell a couple weeks

ago, the surf has been nonstop since early November, essentially six

weeks of west-northwest and northwest groundswells.

Then late last week, an out-of-season southern hemi surprises

everybody from La Libertao to Jalama. Locally, it crisscrosses with a

healthy northwest swell. Optimum surface conditions ruled Friday and

Saturday.

Even A frames in Laguna.

Sunday saw Main Beach at low tide collapsing on a curb sandbar

like Puerto Escondido in Mexico.

The warmer-than-normal water pocket around the equator.

It’s 12:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 16.

This latest rain machine is really bearing down on us. The winds

are south-southeast 15 to 22 mph, it’s raining about five miles

offshore, the surf is 6 to 10 feet and full victory at sea

conditions.

The barometer dropped from 29-98 at 6 a.m. to 29-84 at noon.

The projected totals for this one are 1 to 2 inches in the coastal

plain, 2 to 3 inches in the foothills and a fairly high snow level of

8,000 feet.

It appears at this time that the Eastern Pacific high will not be

a factor in our weather for a while!

The ocean temp is still a degree or two above 60 degrees, way up

from last year’s 55 degrees and 54 degrees the year before that!

With the ample moisture up north, fire danger has been pretty much

soaked out.

Let’s hope we can keep it going. It sure looks like Senor El Nino

has a few tricks up his sleeve.

Stay tuned!

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

bachelor’s in earth sciences from UCSD and was a U.S. Air Force

weatherman at Hickman Air Force Base, Hawaii.