PG&E weather forecast for Wednesday January 26

January 26, 2011

By JOHN LINDSEY from PG&E

SEA SWELL:

A 5 to 7-foot west-northwesterly (285-degree deep-water) swell (with a 13 to 17-second period) will arrive along our coastline this afternoon, increasing to 6 to 8-feet (with a 13 to 15-second period) on Thursday and will remain at this height through Friday morning.

Increasing northwesterly winds along our coastline will generate a 5 to 7-foot northwesterly (300-degree deep-water) sea and swell (with a 4 to 14-second period) along our coastline on
Friday afternoon through Saturday morning.

This northwesterly sea and swell will further build to 6 to 8-feet (with a 4- to 17-second period) on Saturday afternoon and will remain at this height and period through Sunday.

A 5 to 7-foot northwesterly (295-degree deep-water) swell (with an 11- to 14-second period) is forecast along our coastline on Monday through Tuesday.

Look for a long-period, medium-height west-northwesterly swell along our coastline on February 4, 2011.

PG&E San Francisco Met Office predicted temps:

Inland Temperatures, Paso Robles

Actual                    Predicted

Tue         Wed        Thu       Fri        Sat       Sun      Mon      Tue       Wed
39-70     34-71      40-71    40-68  39-66   39-66    37-66    40-68    35-67

Coastal Valleys Temperatures, San Luis Obispo

Tue         Wed         Thu       Fri        Sat        Sun      Mon       Tue       Wed
45-74     42-75       41-75    40-72    39-68   40-69   39-69     38-70   42-70

ATMOSPHERIC CONDITION:

A 1,027-millibar Eastern Pacific High about 500 miles west-northwest of San Luis Obispo combined with an area of strong high pressure over the Great Basin will continue to
produce northeasterly (offshore) winds during night and morning hours, clear skies and unseasonably warm temperatures through Thursday.

The exception will be tule fog in the San Joaquin Valley
that will persist through the week.

High temperatures will range between the high 60s to low 70s
in the North County (Paso Robles) and along the northwesterly
facing beaches (Morro Bay and Los Osos). Overnight lows in
the North County will drop to the low to mid 30s

High temperatures in the coastal valleys (San Luis Obispo) and
along the southwesterly facing beaches (Avila Beach and Cayucos)
will reach the mid to high-70s.

Increasing northwesterly winds on Friday, Saturday and Sunday will produce night and morning marine low clouds and fog along the coastline on Friday night through Sunday and cooler afternoonhighs and warmer overnight lows.

This morning’s charts and models still do not indicate any rain for an extended period.

DIABLO CANYON AIR TEMPERATURES:

Diablo Canyon Meteorological Tower Air Temperature Data

Yesterday’s          Today’s           Tomorrow’s
Min    Max        Min    Max         Min     Max
53.7°   64.7°     54.5°   66.0°      55.0     70.0

WINDS:

Gentle to moderate (8 to 18 mph) northeasterly (offshore) winds are forecast today through Thursday morning.

Moderate to fresh (13 to 24 mph) northwesterly winds are forecast Thursday afternoon and should remain at this level through Saturday morning.

These northwesterly winds will further build to strong to gale force (25 to 38 mph) levels on Saturday afternoon through Sunday.

Moderate to fresh (13 to 24 mph) north to northeasterly (offshore) winds are forecast on Monday through next Tuesday.

DIABLO CANYON METEOROLOGICAL TOWER WIND DATA:

Today’s winds:

Max peak winds:      NE        6.0 mph at   5:45 a.m.
Max sustained wind:  NE        2.7 mph at   5:45 a.m.

Yesterday’s Maximum Winds:

Max peak winds:      NW       13.9 mph at   4:30 p.m.
Max sustained wind:  NW        8.3 mph at   4:30 p.m.

SEAWATER TEMPERATURES:

The Diablo Canyon waverider buoy is reporting a sea surface temperature of 53.4 degrees while the Nortek AWAC current meter is also reporting 53.4 degrees.

Intake seawater temperatures will range between 53 and 55-degrees through Friday, decreasing to 52 and 54-degreeson Saturday and remaining at this range through Tuesday.

OCEAN CURRENTS:

Both the DCPP Cal Poly CODAR stations and the DCPP Nortek AWAC meter are indicating a northerly (onshore) flowing current.

This northerly (onshore) flowing current will continue to flow northward through Friday morning.

A southerly (offshore) flowing current is forecast on Friday afternoon through Tuesday.

SEAWATER VISIBILITY:

Seawater visibility was 10 to 12 feet at the Diablo Canyon Intake.

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24-Hour Ocean Condition Outlook for Wednesday 01/26 to Thursday 01/27

Swell           DIR. WNW     HT.   4-6    PER. 13-15  This morning
Increasing to:  DIR. WNW     HT.   5-7    PER. 13-17  This afternoon
Remaining  at:  DIR. WNW     HT.   5-7    PER. 13-16  Tonight

WINDS:          DIR. NE      SPEED 10-15              This morning
Decreasing to:  DIR. NE      SPEED  5-10              This afternoon
Increasing to:  DIR. NE      SPEED 10-15              Tonight
===========================================================================
48-Hour Ocean Condition Outlook for Thursday 01/27 to Friday 01/28

Swell           DIR. WNW     HT.   6-8    PER. 13-15  Thursday morning
Remaining  at:  DIR. WNW     HT.   6-8    PER. 13-15  Thursday afternoon
Remaining  at:  DIR. WNW     HT.   6-8    PER. 13-15  Thursday night

WINDS:          DIR. NE      SPEED 10-15 + 20         Thursday morning
Increasing to:  DIR. NW      SPEED 15-20 + 25         Thursday afternoon
Decreasing to:  DIR. NW      SPEED 10-15              Thursday night
===========================================================================
Extended Ocean Condition Outlook:

There are no signs of any rain events for the rest of January and it appears that this month will end up below normal for rainfall after a very wet December.

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The 24 – Hour Ocean Data From The Diablo Canyon Wave rider Buoy
MONTH  DAY  TIME  SIG.HEIGHT   PERIOD   SWELL DIRECTION     SST
01    21    0413     6.0       22+           263          53.2
01    21    1813     8.0       20            268          57.0
01    22    2043     7.9       17            254          54.5
01    23    0443     7.5       18            254          56.3
01    24    0543     6.1       17            253          53.8
01    25    0543     5.1       14            267          53.4
01    26    0413     4.4       13            268          53.4

(cm) (sec)  22+   20    17    15    13     11    9    7
———————————————————————–
01 12  0413  184   20   241   505    35   262   244   179   213  235
01 21  0713  170   20   122   623    45   198   173   139   158  178
01 21  1813  243   20    95  1897   587   203   240   151   144  191
01 22  2043  240   17    34   467  1153   756   470   146   124  191
01 23  0443  227   17    27   610   699   643   521   222   116  163
01 24  0543  185   15    11   104   471   498   345   361   136  110
01 25  0543  156   13     3    20   101   378   536   249    61  127
01 26  0413  133   13     3    24    26   135   373   203   103  116

Daily Swell Inspection Program

NAME                      DAY   TIME    HEIGHT   PERIOD     SST
(PST)   (FEET)  (SECONDS) (DEG. F)
# 166  Ocean Station Papa      26    0402      12       13       43.0
# 06   SE Papa                 26    0450      11       14       54.0
# 59   California Buoy         26    0450       8       15       55.8
# 01   Point Reyes Waverider   26    0446       8       17       52.2
# 15   Monterey Waverider Buoy 26    0450       5       14       52.9
# 28   Cape San Martin, Ca     26    0450       6       14       53.4
# 50   DCPP Waverider Buoy, Ca 26    0413       4       13       53.4
# 63   Harvest Buoy            26    0420       6       13       54.5
# 01   NW Hawaii               26    0450      12       13       74.8

* Note: Height (significant swell height) is the average height of the waves in the top third of the wave record. Maximum wave height may be up to TWICE the height in the data shown in the above table.

Precipitation at the Diablo Canyon Ocean Lab.

Monday     1500 through Tuesday    1500   0.00 inches
Tuesday    1500 through Wednesday  1500   0.00 inches

Precipitation this rain season (July 1 – June 30): 17.61 inches
Average season rainfall at DIP to date:            11.65 inches

Ocean Lab Barometer:   30.05 in or 1017.7 mb  +0.0 mb (Steady)

Sunrise and Sunset

Today’s         Sunrise 7:06 AM      Sunset 5:25  PM
Tomorrow’s      Sunrise 7:06 AM      Sunset 5:26  PM

Tides:
Low Tide                 High Tide
AM          PM           AM          PM
26 Wednesday  10:20  0.7    9:00  2.1    2:57 5.6    4:27  3.1
27 Thursday   11:39  0.2   10:14  2.5    3:58 5.7    6:17  3.2
28 Friday    (12:44 -0.2)  11:32  2.6    5:01 5.8    7:33  3.4
29 Saturday   —–  —-   1:36 -0.5    6:00 5.9    8:24  3.7
30 Sunday     12:39  2.6    2:20 -0.7    6:54 5.9    9:04  3.9
31 Monday      1:33  2.5    2:59 -0.8    7:41 6.0    9:37  4.0
1 Tuesday     2:19  2.3    3:32 -0.7    8:22 5.9   10:06  4.1
=========================================================================
This day in weather history

1989 – Snow and high winds created blizzard-like conditions in northwestern Vermont. Winds at Saint Albins gusted to 88 mph.

In Alaska, the town of Cold Foot (located north of Fairbanks) reported a morning low of 75 degrees below zero. (Storm Data)

1983 – The California coast was battered by a storm which produced record high tides, thirty-two foot waves, and mudslides, causing millions of dollars damage. The storm then moved east and dumped four feet of snow on Lake Tahoe. The storm hit at full moon, when the moon was at its closest to earth and the tides were at the highest in many years. It was one of the worst storms-the public thought. A strong El Nino pattern directed the winter storms of the Pacific into Southern California, instead of adhering to their normal destination over Northern California, Oregon and Washington, and resulted in up to four times the average rainfall for
the season. The storms lined up one behind the other on the surface charts like troops marching across the Pacific. Surf described by many old-time residents as the worst in more than 40 years struck the Channel Inland coast with waves crashing through houses, and smashing their way
across property and onto the streets. The swell moved huge boulders 20 feet away from their places in coastal sea walls.

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forecast is provided by Pacific Weather Analysis, with their permission.

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