Santa Barbara Surf Forecast - for Friday - 1/22/10

Make sure to read the full region forecast...it will help this one make sense, (Not promising any miracles though). Click here for the full forecast www.socalsurf.com.

W-WNW swell will peak on Friday…though conditions don’t look particularly appetizing. Granted a lot is going to depend on how fast this last storm front moves through the area but at this point it looks like SW winds around 15-20 knots and more rain on tap for the morning. The winds eventually shift more W’erly by the afternoon but that won’t really help things that much. If the front stalls out we could see more SE flow in the morning which could at least set up some potential for cleaner surf at a handful of protected breaks.

Sizewise look for most of the average W facing breaks to hold in the overhead+ range with a few bigger well overhead sets mixing in. The standout WNW-NW facing spots down in the south half of the county will be more in the well-overhead range with consistent double-overhead+ sets mixing in at times.

Overall don’t expect much in the way of surfable shape, even at the very protected areas…but if you are willing to brave the poor water quality, and potentially hazardous surf, you might spend a few minutes checking out spots that can handle the mix of wind/weather/swell.

01/22/2010 Friday
01:44AM LST 4.4 H
08:48AM LST 1.9 L
01:57PM LST 2.5 H
07:05PM LST 1.9 L