Hi from NOAA/NWS in Monterey

[charlesbell74]

Hi everyone. I am one of the senior meteorologists at the National Weather Service in Monterey. I recently discovered this site and have been reading a few of the weather related posts to see where we are doing a good job and where we can improve.

For anyone who has a second and has used our forecasts in the past, I would be very interested to hear what you like and dislike about them. I am particularly interested in hearing from anyone who surfs anywhere from Monterey County to Sonoma County or around the San Francisco Bay shoreline. This is the area that this office forecasts for.

We are always wondering if there is an area where we are doing a good job or a poor job? Do you find the new digital point-and-click data better than the text products?

Thanks!
Charles

NWS Monterey

P.S. Any comments here are my own and not those of NOAA/NWS.

[spanker_jeep]

Hi,

I love NOAA.
Let me say that you guys are doing a great job.
This site is primarily used by Windboarders and Kiters.
We are mainly interested in wind.

[girsang]

I'm a windsurfer and surfer. I surf mostly Ocean Beach, but occasionally visit all of the sites from SF to Santa Cruz.

I don't know what forecasts you are talking about, so please give us some links.

I would love to see swell forecasts like the wind forecasts from iWindsurf. In other words, a daily forecast and an extended forecast. It's more difficult to predict wave quality, but it'd be great if there was a meteorologist brave enough to try.

All of the surfing sites that do forecasting are awful, with very few exceptions.

[charlesbell74]

[ikrtolica]

Charles,

I am a frequent user of the NWS forecast products, both on the NWS Monterey site and the Honolulu site. I have to say that you guys do a great job, and I am glad that this is a resource that is available to all. I particularly like the swell direction measurements on buoy 46042 - this is really useful to gauge how big the breaking surf will be in the surfing spots that I like in the Monterey Bay and northwards in real time. It would be useful if more buoys would have this feature up the coast, especially the swell period and direction. Or, maybe you guys could add a breaking surf forecast like they have on the Honolulu site. Right now one of the most consistently accurate long-range forecasters for breaking surf is a guy that owns this site: http://stormsurf.com/page2/forecast/forecast/current.shtml.

[beallmd]

Dear Charles; Thanx for looking in on us. Many windsurfers are fairly sophisticated users of weather info on the net. I routinely look at the satellite feeds ,bouys, various wind sensors, temperatures, north Pacific surface analysis etc and look at the forecasting done on this site as well. For surf reports, the SFGATE Surf forecast from Pacific waverider is great and they have a fun 3d fog model. The point is many of us are amateur weather folks and really do our own forecasts just about daily. SO, info is what we want-not so much forecasting perse. We all have a lot of experience at our favorite areas...Maybe more educational stuff would be a great idea- I always lament that the weather channel seems to keep reducing there stuff to the lowest common denominator-like happyface suns etc. They used to do little education pieces that were helpful. We are using your sites all the time-Thanx again.

[charlesbell74]

Hi again.

First, thank you to everyone for the responses. It was nice to see that many of you use our products and/or sensors.

Also, thank you for sending over the other links that all of you use. I will definitely add those to my list of frequently checked links I use at work.

Once again, feel free to contact me with any suggestions, comments, or complaints about what you see from the office here. We are always looking for ways to improve our service.

Charles

[windward1]

Hi Charles,

I use the NWS also. Mostly the bar dispaly on the windgraphs on iWindsurf and the satellite phots.

Say, is there any place to see what the wind is doing by Point Lobos? I have gone by there at times and see wind that would work for my funboard and big sail, but it is often good while Monterey has nothing worthwhile. I can get the wind reading in Monterey. If I could see it was good at Pt. Lobos, I could shoot on down there and get some sailing in.

Windward1

[charlesbell74]