Updated: Satellite images of today's Golden Gate eddy

[windfind]

Hi Gang,

As Ben mentioned in his 7AM forecast there is a distinct Golden Gate Eddy just west of the Bay Area. Forecasting these critters in advance is sometimes impossible but normally you can get a hint from the satellite imagery and the sensors before the forecast.

Today's Golden Gate Eddy is unique since normally the SW flow created by the eddy thrusts a vast marine layer far into the Bay. This makes it easy to see the eddy in animated satellite imagery. But today the air aloft is so dry that there is not much marine layer fog.

Years ago before I became aware of this eddy there were many forecast days when I and the models would forecast strong NW wind especially for the Peninsula and Waddell which never arrived.

Finally on a day like that took a boat trip from Bodega to Pt. Reyes to the Golden Gate to Stinson charting the winds and was surprised to find the wind switching from NW to W to SW to SE. Plotting our course and the wind direction I saw that there weak clearly an huge weak eddy in this area. It turns out that old timer fishermen knew that there were miserable days in this area where you were fighting a NW swell with a nasty SW chop going in the opposite direction. But they did not visualize an eddy or at least write about it.

It took a few more years for me to learn how forecast the eddy the night before and even now we sometimes miss it.

For example in the animation below you can see that the WRF model clearly shows the Golden Gate Eddy at 8AM. But unfortunately the model did not resolve the eddy last night.

So the question for you is: What creates the Golden Gate Eddy? And it messes with the Peninsula and Waddell winds if it lingers past noon.

There are several hints in the imagery so take your best shot.

Mail your ideas to mike@iwindsurf.com or post your thoughts below.

I will soon post a blog with more details about this eddy.

Mike Godsey
iwindsurf.com/ikitesurf.com
Weatheflow.com

[windfind]

Hi Gang,

Below is the view from space of today's Golden Gate eddy that killed the coast and Peninsula wind but make for good WSW wind in the Crissy to Treasure Island to Pt. Isabel to Sherman Island corridor.

Mike Godsey
iwindsurf.com/ikitesurf.com
Weatheflow.com