The King Tides Are Here!

UPDATED: Wednesday, January 21, 2015: 9:30am

I hope those who had Monday off enjoyed their time and got outside!  I spent the weekend with a great crew up in Big Basin State Park.  We camped, hiked, ate and indulged in copious amounts of laughter around the campfire.

Summary:

The biggest story outside this week is the king tides!  Each year the sun, earth and moon align in just the right way to create massive tidal swings along the coast.  Don’t be surprised if you run across some minor coastal flooding over the next few days.  Weatherwise, the Bay Area will see more beautiful weather with highs in the 60’s and lows in the 40’s.  Later in the week temps will climb near 70 in some locations.  Around Tahoe, expect sunny weather with spring temps on the mountains.  The beaches are hosting some powerful swell in addition to the big tides.

Around Tahoe:

Snow is not in the forecast for at least another week.  Luckily it continues to be cold during the evenings, so snow melt is slower than it could be and the resorts are maintaining their coverage with snowmaking.  The ski season is still here; it’s just taken a brief excursion to spring for the time being.  Expect highs over the next few days in the 40’s, approaching 50 by the weekend.  Sunny skies will prevail and temps will start to warm further into the weekend.  The next hint at a pattern change back to winter looks like the beginning of January.  Headed to the hill?  Bring a t-shirt, take a selfie and send it to your shivering friends back East.

For more Tahoe snow details, check out the Tahoe Daily Snow and follow Tahoe Weather on Facebook.

Backcountry Conditions from the Sierra Avalanche Center:

LOW avy danger dominates the backcountry.  Warming during the day may cause some wet snow instabilities on E-S-W aspects.  Check the full report for observations and details.

Hike and Bike Conditions Around the Bay:

The one upside to the drought and warmth is that January doesn’t feel like winter at all around the Bay.  Sunny skies with highs in the 60’s that will be warming towards 70 over the weekend will be sticking around for the near term.  Get out for an evening hike, snack in a park or just lunch outside.  Wildflowers are even starting to make an appearance around the area.

Wildflowers along CA 1 near Davenport

Surf Around the Region:  

Solid WNW swell in the overhead to double overhead range continues to pulse into the region today and tomorrow.  A new, big swell will arrive on Friday and Saturday.  Head on over to Pacifica, Bolinas or Santa Cruz for user friendly surf.  Beware of the king tides as they’ll likely swamp out many locations at their peak.

Sunrise/Sunset and Tidal Information:

January 21, 2015

Sunrise: 7:19am/ Sunset: 5:23pm

High Tide: 12:27 at 5.4ft/ 11:36 at 6.8ft

Low Tide: 5:21 at 2.1ft/ 18:05 at -1.2ft

SB