You know the old adage “If it looks like a duck, it quacks like a duck…”
Well, sometimes it's not a duck.
From a La Ventana Beach perspective, we'll have classic northerly winds roaring along the Sea of Cortez on Sunday, Monday and today Wednesday.
Old timers of La Ventana and Los Barriles know that northerly winds are the quintessential winter wind as high pressure builds up near the 4 Corners area (where all the square states of the United States meet). Then, if an area of low pressure exists south of Cabo, strong northerly winds can flow down the Sea of Cortez, where local hot winds can increase wind intensity.
So why doesn’t the wind look like a duck now?
In this satellite image, wannabe hurricane-like Tropical Storm Christie is noted. It certainly looked like a hurricane, but its peak winds were “only” 52 knots, which tied Christie to the pure tropical storm category. Wimpy or not, Christie is a powerful low-pressure zone.
Now look at the second picture.
Please note the WeatherFlow-Tempest ikitesurf.com sensor wind map. Data comes from Ventana Windsports' La Ventana sensor.
These charts sure rattle like the north wind! But are these classic Boreas?
- Yes, there is a lot of pressure in the 4 corner area!
- Yes, the north wind reaches the east corner of Baja.
- But now things get weird! The pressure gradient between the Four Corners area and the waters south of Cabo is not caused by normal winter low pressure. Instead, those northerly winds are heading toward Tropical Storm Christie.
- A low-pressure trough extending from Christie also contributes to northerly winds
- Even more interesting is the battle between the northerly winds trying to reach the Christie Low and the easterly winds spiraling out of the tropical storm.
So, no! Despite its quacking, this is not a northern duck. The factors producing these northerly winds actually persisted into day four, Wednesday, as Christie only slowly wobbled away from Mexico.
