San Diego marine layer

[shera]

I kinda like it, nice and cool in the morning and great for working out. But does anyone know a good forecast for when it will burn off every day? Would be nice to catch the sunrise over the city on shelter island sometimes and to make plans for what time to go to the beach in the afternoon. tia

[Piggity]

May gray and June gloom. The marine layer seems less prevalent this year than others but that's not scientific in anyway. Rule of thumb (old wives tale maybe?) is that 'May gray' is all day and 'June Gloom' is usually a marine layer in morning, burns off in afternoon. North County has been seeing sun. Point Loma is, a lot of times, the last to get sun since it's a peninsula that has water on both sides and kinda juts into the gloom until it makes it's exit out to sea. It's kinda fickle sometimes and we can be completely socked in marine layer with south winds 10+ mph and places like Trestles and OC can be clear sunny skies and relatively calm winds. I think Ottime and BS720 saw that in action a few weeks ago. Almost like clockwork every year the June Gloom disappears just before the 4th of July, sometimes a week or so earlier and usually sunny from morning till night.

[Ottime]

SheRa, I try to forecast the marine layer here in Santa Cruz on my weather blog - therealweather.blogspot.com

It is very hard to do as there are a lot of variables. Up here it is mostly determined by location of the wind gradient and available moisture in the air. I check the NOAA forecast as well. It is totally different up here.

Sometimes the SolSpot and WaveWatch (now part of Surfing Mag) long term forecast will discuss the marine layer.

I like the marine layer for the most part. It keeps the wind down and the surf crowds can spread out across town and up the coast. When the wind blows it pushes everyone to the same few spots. OTOH, sunny mornings are great for chilling on the beach with my son and for growing tomatoes.

[PowerWhore7]

Rule of thumb (old wives tale maybe?) is that 'May gray' is all day and 'June Gloom' is usually a marine layer in morning, burns off in afternoon.

Super interesting....this is my 7th summer in SoCal and I am just starting to get used to the cycles. This May was pretty sunny though, we live 3 miles from the ocean so I’m not sure if that is considered inland or not but we got tons of sun in May this year.

Yesterday the sun only came out for two hours and it’s sort of raining today, I do agree that it is great for working out though.

[jtran10]

this may was def. sunnier on the coast than last may

[Piggity]

Agreed, this May was about as nice as we can expect. I'm sure there have been better ones but I'd do this May all over again, both sun and surf.

Shera, if you get the glums from the marine layer then usually a short drive inland will provide all the sunshine you need. Usually 5-10 miles inland is sunny and hot while we're cloudy and cool.

[Ottime]

Super interesting....this is my 7th summer in we live 3 miles from the ocean so I’m not sure if that is considered inland or not
.

Pretty sure that makes you a valley squid long boarding kook goon.

But that is better than being in Nebraska.

I agree on the excellent May. Out fog is more of a June/July/August thing, but May usually has its fair share. Was pretty sunny and warm with decent waves this month.

Marine layer looks like it is here this week. With an 8@12 winds well and moderate south flow I'm hoping to get in tonight. Could be a good week of the fog sticks around when that new south fills in. Doggy rock, here I come.

[nickwm21]

On Saturday it was 65 and gloomy at my house and 90 and sunny 10 miles in

sent from the future using my mind powers

[shera]

We have a saying around here, "never go east of the 5". I'm not trying to get hot and I know plenty about may gray and june gloom - my mom spouts it repeatedly along with directions to look at the jacarandas. What I'm wanting is a specific forecasting tool so that I know what's going on *tomorrow* and can plan waterfront outings. Solspot was a big fail yesterday. But I can tell when I wake up and look outside pretty much what the sky is gonna do, you can tell how thick the layer is and whether it will break up or not.

I hear you about point loma being more cloudy, like pleasure point. would ride my bike up high in santa cruz and watch the marine layer. A lot colder up there though. Hahaha tomatoes - not til september, maybe.

Yeah, this May was nice, but the last few days it has turned back to the norm. So none of you know a forecasting tool?

[Ottime]

Just my blog, but that does not help you this summer. And NOAa to a degree. If you can get a handle on what causes the fog and its severity, you can just look at the weather maps.

The tough part is how fickle the marine layer actually is. Most outlets have a very hard time forecasting it accurately. I've been paying attention closely for five years and still miss it from time to time. For instance, I forecasted the marine layer for today through Wednesday. After that I really can tell until I see what happens with the wind gradient. Today was foggy and was still foggy when I ran over the hill at noon. But I would not be surprised if I had to adjust my forecast for tomorrow (don't think I will, but it can change that quickly)

I wish NOAA would put more effort into their forecast as it I really the only weather variant we get until the fall. Solspot does a decent job up here but only updates the long term twice a week and a lot can change in 24 hours.

[Ottime]

Maybe I should start a new business.

Fogcast.com

[nickwm21]

Water is warm though....

sent from the future using my mind powers

[Tye 1on]

sounds as fickle as predicting 9 or 19 overnight at Alta...

[shera]

sounds as fickle as predicting 9 or 19 overnight at Alta...

You only ski when it's over 9?

Maybe I should start a new business.

Fogcast.com

Sure, add in useful info like water clarity for snorkeling, neap/spring or I guess just moon and tide info, rip strength, wind, water choppiness, temps - all hourly of course.

Also put up detailed descriptions of surf breaks, fishing spots, snorkel, kayak, etc. Add a forum area for each interest. California coast revealed! Or wait, how about "California Gravity Research", CGR

Also throw in links to other useful sites, like those surfing podcasts.

[Ottime]

now that I am sitting at the computer, one image I use is here (SoCal version)

http://virga.sfsu.edu/gif/socal_gwvis_00.gif

Current image is not really working, but it includes visual satellite image and you can usually see where the fog bank is sitting, how far inland/out to sea it is, and how thick it looks. If you look at it daily and correlate with your observations you will start to be able to predict how the marine layer will act on a particular day.

[Piggity]

Local news channels pretty much all do a micro-climate forecast for the Beaches, Mountains and Desert.....they talk about the marine layer regularly. Obviously, they're wrong a lot but they do forecast the marine layer, whenever there is one. You can use them to cross reference with ottime's link above and come up with a good idea of what it's doing.

[bodywhomper]

there is a lot of good food "east of the 5" in san diego.

i think the primary marine layer is between oceanside and san onofre....

[HotTate]

NOAA hourly graph

I use this graph a lot to determine cloud cover. Seems to be pretty accurate! Just make sure you're using if for your zip and not mine.

[shera]

there is a lot of good food "east of the 5" in san diego.

Oh man, I believe you. Food around here is soooo much better than CO.

Local news channels pretty much all do a micro-climate forecast for the Beaches, Mountains and Desert.....they talk about the marine layer regularly. Obviously, they're wrong a lot but they do forecast the marine layer, whenever there is one. You can use them to cross reference with ottime's link above and come up with a good idea of what it's doing.

Hmmm, I gotta look for those reports online since I don't have a tv.

[shera]

NOAA hourly graph

I use this graph a lot to determine cloud cover. Seems to be pretty accurate! Just make sure you're using if for your zip and not mine.

oooooh, that's it! Yours is probably close to mine, but I couldn't get mine up - Point Loma. Can you help me with that, pls?