Six Months Since The Last Proper Northwest Pulse, Fall In California Is Four Days Away

174 days ago, on March 28th, the Pacific Ocean coughed its parting long-period northwest swell pulse towards California, before the Aleutian storm clouds settled into their annual slumber. A few days later, the final puffs of genuine offshore wind puttered out, returning the Golden State to the dreaded malaise of dribbly summertime nothing. 

“Spring was a little weird and kind of lame,” says Noah Wegrich, longtime Santa Cruz local. “Same with April and May. June was kinda fun, and then it just went flat. Usually we have a month where it’s pretty flat, but it’s been a really long time. Maybe 10-weeks of absolutely nothing. 

“Usually, we have pretty fun south swells during the summer that make it up from Mexico and that whole zone, but this year they were plagued every time we got one. We had Northwest windswell mixed in with all of them, which just chops up the swell and makes it all confusing and weird and kind of annoying. A lot of the waves that usually would be good were just weird and messy. 

“I just pretty much quit surfing and had a crazy wedding season this year,” he laughs. “I’m at that age where everyone’s doing it. And then had a bunch of family hangs and camping and going up to the mountains. I think it’s been since March or April that I got my last good waves.”

In the film above, Noah, Ian Crane, and Rasta Robb parse the delicacies of last winter in Northern California — with the latter two reminding us that going frontisde in Santa Cruz isn’t reserved for those with their left foot forward. 

“I’d say I go left more in winter around here. I guess I’m pretty much a left guy in general,” he laughs. ”I love going left, and I feel like more people are regular-footed around here. I had Ian on that trip and Robbie was on for a little, but he had to take off back home, so me and Ian just got real fired up about going left.”

Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere officially starts in four days — September 22nd. But how long until it starts showing on the meteorological forecast?

“Dude, it’s coming. It’ll come in the next few weeks. It looks like in about 10 days we’re going to see our first Northwest pulse. It’s funny though, people always claim our fall is the best time of year and it totally can be super fun, but I never really truly believe it’s the best. I’ve always liked winter the best. I’m a January hero” 

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