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Alright, it's July and I want to know why it's plenty warm enough to trunk it here in San Diego but this past weekend while surfing in Baja near K38 I had to wear a fullsuit and booties. Why is there such a drastic change in temperature over less that 50 or so miles, and why is it colder South?
asked by Matt, San Diego, CA
Surfline's Baja veteran Sean Collins replies:
Below Point Conception we have what is called the "Southern California bight", an area that's semi-protected from the prevailing strong northwesterly winds in the outer waters, outside of Point Conception. The winds inside the bight are much lighter with occasional eddies of winds and currents that twist in from the South. As a result the water inside of the bight tends to pool and warm up much more than the water in the outer waters.
Further South, below the protection inside the Southern California bight, Northern Baja becomes exposed to the strong northwesterly winds in the outer waters. As such, Northern Baja experiences a great amount of upwelling as the churned up water surface near shore becomes colder
due to cold water rising up from the depths, replacing warmer surface water which is being blown back out perpendicular to the coast to the right via what is called Ekman Transport. Until you travel half way down the Baja peninsula, water temperatures will typically be much cooler than water temps in southern California.
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