Califronia King Tides Needs To Expand!

I've been shooting King Tide Photos since 2011 around the Half Moon Bay and Pacifica area. I've been submitting photos to the Bay Area King Tide and California King Tide Initiative thru their Flickr site.

Miramar Inn Tide 6.1, Swell 15-17 feet, Wind 15 mph
March 1, 2014

King Tides are generated due to the geometry and interaction of the earth, sun and moon during the months of December, January and February. In my area this can add about a foot of tide to the normal high tide. A common high tide is around 6.0 feet, a King Tide can push this up close to 7 feet. However King Tides do not necessarily represent the most extreme surf conditions. Several other conditions need to be present and coupled with a high tide, King or not for the most dramatic effect.

Surfer Beach Parking Area
March 1, 2014

Wind is a key factor, especially wind pushing the seas in a favorable direction. Next are high surf or swells generated by storms at sea and again the swell direction should match up closely to the direction the sea impacts the land. King Tide Days number about 9 for the entire year. I've found that getting wind and high surf on King Tide Days has a very low probability, which has frustrated me over the last two years. In the last two years, the SF Bay area has been experiencing drought conditions which translate to little storm activity, milder temperatures, and very little wind. So with just a few days of King Tides in a year and the anemic weather conditions, King Tides may not be the bellwether for the most extreme tidal condition as they relate to sea level rise. 

Surfers Beach Tide 6.1, Swell 15-17, Wind 15
March 1, 2014

Yesterday we had a high tide, 6.1 feet at 10:20 am coupled with a high surf advisory of 15-17 feet and a wind of 15 mph. The results were spectacular, better than the last two years of King Tides.
California King Tides needs to expand its activity for the entire year. I suggest King Tides be expanded to cover the entire year. Storms, storm surge, wind, and high surf advisories need to be monitored, along with day time tides of 5.5 feet and higher (I'm using my area for this number) and when the favorable conditions arise, word needs to be put out so photographers can get out and do their thing. This may only add a few days to the mix, but some of these days may prove valuable and dramatic and need to be documented.

Surfers Beach, tide 6.6, swell 0-5
November 12, 2012 

Surfers Beach, Tide 6.4, Swell 15, Wind 10
January 22, 2012

Drought Emergency

January 2014 ends as the driest January ever with a total rainfall of .06 inches. In addition January's average daily high temperature was 62.71 degrees F. This is almost 7 degrees warmer than the January average of 56 degrees F. In addition there were 30 days in January where the high temperature exceeded the all-time January average of 56 degrees F. Note all the temperature data I'm using is from the San Francisco International Airport.

A weather modeling computer at the National Weather Service displays the high-pressure ridge that stretches from Mexico to Canada. (Photo by Liz Devitt)

A drought emergency has been declared for the state of California. With February approaching, no significant rain is predicted for the near term. A high pressure ridge has been parked over central California blocking all Pacific storms from California into Oregon. 

This looks bad and nobody really can explain it. Considering the earth's weather and ocean current patterns are interconnected, any abnormality anywhere on the planet will have an effect on the entire system. It may appear as localized as here in Northern California but it's a system wide phenomenon.

So one may ask about the abnormal phenomenon happing around the globe and its relationship to our local drought if any?   I can think of a few things that may seem unrelated, but who knows? Since March 2011 radiated water has been leaking and flowing into the Pacific from the Fukushima  Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. There is much misinformation on this and wild speculation, no reliable data seems readily available. I point this out because Japan and California are interconnected by the Pacific Ocean. There is a local disaster in Japan, how are we impacted, I don’t believe you can say not at all!

Next we have the Sea Star Wasting Syndrome affecting the entire west coast. This extent is troubling many scientist as it is unprecedented.  Also there is a drastic decline in sardines and an increase in anchovy’s. Some speculate this is part of a natural ocean cycle but again the interconnectedness of all things suggests there could be a link.  Related to that is the large influx of squid that happened around the Bay Area earlier this year.

So although these items may not be related or responsible for our dry weather, it’s worth asking questions and probing deeper.  As Bob Dylan sang years ago, “There’s something happening here but you don’t know what it is, do you Mister Jones?”  

Blogger Site is Awful to Use!

I would like to make a comment about this Blogger web site. The people who designed this site must be morons, this site is poorly designed, frustrating to use, and is full of bugs. I hate to be so negative, but this site is so frustrating and needs a total re-design! I'm not going into details, I've already wasted enough time and anybody that uses this site knows what I mean!

Perpetual Summer Continues Coastside!

Cloud Formation Pillar Point Harbor

In the debate over climate change there are many examples of impacts on glaciers, sea ice, the North and South Pole, mega storms and uncountable other subtle permutations  constantly bombarding the planet. Presently most people are not affected very much as most of this change is subtle and people experiences are not direct but rather thru the media and hearsay and the never ending spin of scientific data!

 

I’ve lived on the coast, El Granada and Moss Beach for 16 years and pretty well know the weather patterns over those 16 years. Having also lived many years in San Francisco and the Peninsula, I’m familiar with the micro climate aspects of the Bay Area where it’s not unusual to have a 30-40 degree F temperature spread over a 20 mile stretch!  I was born and lived many years in the Washington DC area. Although Washington’s winters are fairly mild, it’s not unusual to get occasional severe winter snow storms.  So in contrast the SF climate is generally mild and sometimes I would describe it as anemic!

Big weather news in the Bay Area is a 10 degrees change in the temperature, 10 degrees up, the headlines scream heat wave, 10 degrees down and we are in a brutal cold snap! Any rain will be headline news and occasionally the area gets a significant rain and wind storm. Living in the bay area you can pretty much be guaranteed 6 months of cloudless dry contiguous weather. Still the mere forecast of rain or appearance of clouds sends many residents scurrying for the comfort of their TV rooms for the duration!  

To me being from an area that has 4 distinct seasons I see the Bay Area as having two seasons separated by a little rain and about 10 degree temperature difference. How do I adjust, well, I wear short sleeves in the summer and long sleeves in the winter!

Until this year, I’ve seen no significant variation in the weather pattern on the coast for 16 years. It’s consistency over that period has brought comfort to me as I thrive on being blanketed in coolness most of the time, that’s why I choose to live on the coast.

 

THIS YEAR IS DIFFERENT!

Cloud Formation Fitzgerald Marine Reserve

 

I have not run any temperature number analysis yet for this year; my observations are strictly that, my personal take on the weather this year based on my past experience. This year is different in several ways as I will explain, however I cannot at this time say this is a trend or just an aberration over time. I’m hoping for the later but I’m skeptical of that!

 

So let’s look at the observations and data over the last 2 years. Rainfall records have been kept for San Francisco for 164 years, so far this year as of November 11^th SF has had annual rainfall of 3.95 inches. The low record is 5.57 set in 1976. Given the trend so far this rainy season, looks like this year has a chance to be the driest on record. That in its self is not that surprising as I was in the SF area during the drought years of the mid 1970’s. What’s very surprising to me and up-setting is the temperature/ fog distribution over the last several months.  It’s way out of bounds in relation to my 16 year observation period.

 

The last significant rainfall month in SF was December 2012 where 7.1 inches of rain was recorded. Since that time, we have had 3.95 inches of rain! I consider January 1^st 2012 as the start point for a very dry and unusual pattern.

Looking at the summer of 2013 it was running fairly normal thru August. That is the temperature and fog patterns seemed normal for the period. 

Starting in September a significant change in normal fog/temperature and humidity pattern started to make its presence known.

I need to interject some additional information on the Bay Area climate and that involves the Indian Summer the Bay Area often experiences in September and October.  The summer fog pattern shifts in September reducing the amount of fog and thus warming some of the normally cool fog areas. This is more pronounced on the Peninsula and other areas than at the coast. Although the coast will experience less fog this time of year, the temperature tens to remain cool and humidity low.  If the coast does experience some warm weather, it’s generally short-lived, perhaps a few days.

 

So back to September, around the beginning, a mugginess appeared along with warmer temperatures and persisted throughout the month. Except for a period of 4 days of heavy fog, the month was mostly clear of fog, unusually hot and humid; much more so than past years. This pattern continued thru October, with most days clear and warm to hot, the humidity seemed to have returned to normal.

 

Shockingly November has continued with the dry warm weather. As I write this on 11/13, the weather forecast is clear for about the next 10 days.

 

In conclusion, all of what I just wrote about may mean nothing in the scheme of Climate Change, it could just be an errant year, and a sample size of 16 is not very great. However, if this is a trend, then it’s my first direct experience with Climate Change at my local level. Direct experience may be the catalyst to melt the apathy and start a positive push towards addressing Climate Change.  I will continue to monitor the conditions in my habitat and follow up this blog.   

 

Bird Blizzard Half Moon Bay California

Bird-a-palooza

Lots of bait fish, anchovies and sardines have been abundant around Half Moon Bay recently. On some days there are thousands of birds feeding in a frenzy, a sight to see and hear. The birds include the Brown Pelican, Elegant Terns, Western Gulls, Heerman's Gulls, California Gulls and further out Shearwaters, Surf Scoters, and Bottlenose Dolphins. This photo was taken on September 10th, 2013. This is such a contrast to last year, where a lack of food devastated the Pelican population especially the juveniles. I hope to never see that sad spectacle again!

Blue-footed Visitors from the Galapagos

Blue-footed Booby, Cove Beach

Not since 1971 has a Blue-footed Booby been spotted in Northern California. For the last week or so, multiple reports of immature and sub-adult Blue-footed Boobies have been reported ranging up the CA coast. There are about twenty reports from San Diego, LA area, Mono Lake, Salton Sea and Pt Reyes. Today Monterey Bay coastline and San Francisco is hosting a few. Evidently this phenomenon has not been seen since 1971 (B. Sullivan fide), and may correlate with the local abundance of anchovies seen this season off the CA coastline.


After getting a report from Peninsula Birds about the Blue-footed Booby at Cove Beach, I went on down Wednesday 9/18 to Cove Beach about 1 pm. Sure enough on the west end near the surfer area was the juvenile booby sitting on the rocks where the corms and BRPE hang out. I was able to observe the bird for about ½ hour before it flew, see picture. The lighting was horrible but, hey it’s a BFBO, a good day for sure!

Blue-footed Booby Flight

Here is some more information on the California event from the Joe Morlan Blog:

Status in California
Until this year, there were 114 previously accepted records of Blue-footed Booby in California. The species was removed from the CBRC review list in 1974 because it was thought to be of regular occurrence. It was restored in 1986 when it became apparent it was no longer a regular or expected visitor to the state. Major invasions occurred in 1969 (32 birds) and 1972 (at least 45 birds), but over 40 years have passed since then. Now we are experiencing what appears to be the largest invasion ever with more than 18 birds together at Obsidian Butte (Salton Sea), more than 10 on Anacapa Island and up to 7 at Playa Del Rey. Birds have been seen as far north as Bodega Head in Sonoma County, and one was reportedly photographed at Mono Lake. .
There has been considerable speculation about the cause of this invasion. It seems likely to be related to food resources with sardine stocks being over-fished in the Gulf of California by purse seine fishing and reported declines in anchovy off the California Coast.

In-Seine Squid

Last July I sailed out of Half Moon Bay on a pelagic birding trip. A few miles off the coast we encountered a squid shoal, a grouping of many thousand market or opalescent Squid (Doryteuthis Opalescens).

Mineo Bros Squid Boat unloading at Johnson's Pier,
Pillar Point Harbor, California.

This has been typically a real cash crop along the California coast but for the last 7 years squid activity around Half Moon Bay has been non-existent. Mike McHenry has been fishing the waters of Pillar Point Harbor for the last 30 years and is the only local squid boat captain. His boat the Meva M actually sank July 24th 1984 due to being overloaded with squid. It remained on the bottom for 1 month before being raised and restored.

Normally about 80% of California squid is harvested in Southern California mostly around the Channel Islands with the rest coming from Monterey. This year the squid returned in massive numbers again near Half Moon Bay and suddenly many squid boats from the west coast and Canada descended on the Pillar Point Harbor. Fish and Wildlife has set a yearly quota of about 118,000 tons which amounts to about $70,000,000! A typical squid boat can net about 80-150 tons of squid which can be worth up to $90,000. During a recent survey of the harbor I spied about 7 non-local boats. 


Container of Ice and Squid

I'm not an expert on fishing or squids but I'm very interested in local activities in and around the coastside. I often hang out at the harbor, something about a genuine working fishing village draws my interest.  If you hang around the harbor long enough something interesting and exciting will happen such as the squid bloom now, or a sinking or rescue at sea, world class surfing at Mavericks, and the constant arrivals and departures of exotic birds from around the world.

Purse Seine are large long nets that hang vertically in the water like a fence. A small skiff holds one end in place while a larger 'seiner' vessel encircles a school of fish or squid. A rope along the net bottom is then pulled "pursing" the net- closing of the seine bottom like a drawstring. A successful set may yield a harvest of about 40 tons. Much squid fishing is done at night. The boat locates the squid using sonar and powerful lights mounted on the boat draw the squid to the surface for netting.

Purse Seine Fisheries

Pillar Point Harbor is well equipped to handle large quantities of squid and has streamlined the process. At Johnson Pier Morningstar Fisheries uses a vacuum system to off load the boats. The squid are put in large containers filled with ice and loaded onto large tractor trailer trucks and hauled down to Southern California Seafood of Watsonville. 95% percent of the squid is exported and 70% goes to China.

It can be a very chaotic scene on the pier with several forklifts speeding around at break neck speed. I've seen angry forklift operators yelling warnings to tourist that inadvertently wander into the midst of the operation. I'm thinking why don't they cone off the pier during these times as most tourist on the pier don't have a clue as to what's going on.


Squid Loading at Pillar Point Harbor

Squid distribution is dependent on water temperature and there have been attempts to relate squid movement with El Nino. The last big El Nino event occurred in 1996-97 and this was a big squid year around Half Moon Bay. That year the winter rains doubled it's usual average with San Francisco getting about 40 inches of rain. According to NOAA this year and into early 2014 we are looking at ENSO neutral variability meaning no El Nino or La Nina are expected.

Lady J from Monterey Off-loading Squid
Johnson Pier

 Some similarities between 1997 and today from my personal observations are, more bait fish (from bird observations), more squid, and an unusual humid spell! It will be interesting to see what this winter brings weather wise, as we have just come off two years in a row with below normal rainfall.