Bay area amateur meteorologists, help me!

Temira · Joined: 15 Jun 1999 Posts: 94 Location: Hood River

Hello Sailors,

I've been asked to put together a kite/windsurfing weather primer for the Bay Area (as well as the Gorge and Hatteras), and I'm hoping the locals can help me. I know Bay Area wind is difficult to predict, so I'm asking for your assistance.

What makes the wind blow at Crissy?
At 3rd Avenue?
At the Delta?
At Davenport and other coastal spots?
At Treasure Island?
At anywhere else you think I should include!

Any help you guys can give would be fantastic. If you can email me replies at twomirrors@gmail.com, that would be awesome as well!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Temira

SPQR · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 274

Real simple, it's the fog, our natural air conditioning. Smile

boggsman1 · Joined: 24 Jun 2002 Posts: 9120 Location: at a computer

SPQR not true. In the Spring theres no FOG and the Coast /Crissy go nuts 30KTS +.

SPQR · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 274

No kidding Bman, Temira asked for amateurs right? Some of my best days have been on clearing winds after fronts moved through, then there is the difference in pressure between the Ca. coast and way inland, etc. That's for the pros to predict. One thing though, after many years of sailing and then kiting I can tell if my favorite spot is good without checking the weatherman, and that is part of the sport, to know your local environment.

poulton0 · Joined: 21 Apr 2000 Posts: 9

SWE106 · Joined: 14 Feb 2005 Posts: 264 Location: San Mateo

best rule of thumb:

if iwindsurf says it will be windy: forgot it there will be not much wind, except for those nuking days that we all see comming.
if iwindsurf says it will not be windy: bring your 4.2s, there will be wind.

This is no joke, it has happened so many times (this year), it starts to be scary.

Ergeo conclusio: winds are very hard to predict and understand in the bay area, largely due to all the small micro climates. Why is it windy at one place and 5 miles down the road nada... no model can (yet) accurately predict that, largely due to the coarser grid size of such models. Attempts to accurately predict, and thus understand (a good prediction/model is based on a good understanding), the winds in the bay area on such a small scale are therefore low confidence, especially if those predictions are made off-site.

This doesnot answer your question, but may help you in better understanding those you may receive.

Waterat Pat · Joined: 10 Apr 2000 Posts: 192

Hi Windbabe,
Interesting moniker there. Hope you can live up to it. More power to ya.

Here goes!
What makes the wind blow at Crissy?
The main wind generator for SF Bay area is low pressure inland and the wonderful North Pacific High pressure off the Oregon /Washington coast. This sets up the strong summer/spring trades no fog necessary. It also helps to have a good temperature gradient between the coast and inland bay area. The hot air rises inland sucking in the cool coastal air under the Golden Gate Bridge.
At 3rd Avenue?
Same as Crissy but fog on the coast can help the temperature gradient making it more extreme.
At the Delta? Big deep fog. You want a marine layer that is 2000ft or more that pushes deep inland in the evenings.
Lake San Luis is the same but not as consistent. Southwest flow from Monterrey really helps.
At Davenport and other coastal spots? Trade wind conditions rule here but late in the summer sometimes offshore flow pushes the fog out and you get localized NW wind right in this area late in the day due to thermals.
At Treasure Island? Late summer spot when the fog is hanging right at the Golden Gate this place blows when everywhere else is dead.Unfortunately I heard the launch is closed.