¡Buenos dias! As they say…close but no cigar…as a satellite pass yesterday around noon measured NNW winds over the Sea of Cortez near Cerralvo of only around 5 knots-just short of what is usually needed to fully jump-start our wind machine. Northern beaches only saw winds of around 12-14 mph for much of the afternoon, with a late peak of 15 mph around 3:30 pm. Today will present yet another forecast challenge, as while model forecasts are showing NNW background flow will increase, a band of high clouds will likely move in by late morning and at least partially dampen our local thermal. It’ll once again be close, and if we see some thin spots in the cloud cover, winds could easily be stronger than forecast. Clouds are forecast to become even thicker on Wednesday, and at this point it looks like we will have a very weak thermal at best. Full sunshine will likely return on Thursday, and as a ridge of high pressure builds into the central Baja Peninsula, north winds will increase here. Unfortunately the wind party won’t last long, as model forecasts are in good agreement that a low pressure system lurking off the southern California coast on Friday will push the surface ridge southward directly over BCS, with winds becoming very light. As the low moves slowly eastward across the northern Baja Peninsula on Saturday, our winds will likely remain light. Sunday will be a transition day, as surface high pressure will begin building back into our region with NW background flow increasing. At this point it looks like we’ll still see some west component to the winds on Sunday…stay tuned. Long-range model forecasts are in good agreement that surface high pressure will continue to build to our north, with solid north flow expected over BCS.
- Today…Sunny this morning, then increasing high clouds. North wind 14-16 mph.
- Wednesday…Mostly cloudy. North wind 10-12 mph.
- Thursday…Sunny. North wind 18-22 mph.
- Friday…Sunny. Northeast wind 8-10 mph.
- Saturday…Sunny. Northwest wind 8-10 mph.
- Sunday…Sunny. North/northwest wind 16-18 mph.
- Monday…Sunny. North wind 18-22 mph.