July 9th, 1998
Will Church
El Niņo and La Niņa - It Is All Good This Year
Pumping surf for months and endless strings of powder days that piled up into a mega-deep base were the El Niņo rewards for the
surfers, skiers, and snowboarders on the west coast during in 1998.
A Rare Clean Surf Day in NorCal 1998
The constant large surf made the big wave adrenaline junkies happy and the massive amount of rain runoff created historic
sandbars for all to enjoy. Northern California experienced constant 20 foot surf in Febuary created by a long fetch of
pineapple express enhanced storms that freight trained in the jet stream from Japan to California. Sounds great here, but the
unrelenting nature of the weather made for mostly poor surface conditions and murky polluted water. Southern Cal had some better
weather days along with the focus of some of these powerfull swells. The surf dropped to more normal sizes in the spring, but the
stormy weather still hung around until the summer fog moved in to denying coastal communities their revenue enhancing sunshine. As
the north pacific eased off the south pacific really started to pump up some nice southwesterly swells in May and June. By July,
La Niņa was in full swing and we have seen smaller more southerly swells since the little girl took charge (good for Mex or SoCal;
not so good for NorCal).
South Swell Fun in NorCal
Main Chute Palisades Squaw Valley; July 4th 1998
Snow riders collected well over 100 direct lift access powder days in the Tahoe area and the season lasted well into the summer.
The weather was almost non-stop from January til May once it really started. Visibility and sunshine were the only
missing ingredients to an other wise perfectly white winter. The hard part was keeping track of what day it was so you so could
determine wether to show up for that job you blew off 3 weeks ago as one cloudy snowy powder day lead to another. Our spring was
more like a good winter with powder days mixed up with dust on crust and then finally some spring like conditions.
Alpine Meadows stayed open on weekends until June 28th. Squaw Valley closed on May 31st and then reopened for the 4th of July
weekend. Mammoth Mountain wins the longest season in California prize with their season lasting well into July.
Alpine Meadows; June 28th, 1998 -Squaw Valley; July 4th, 1998
I am sure you all know by now that El Niņo is an usually warm patch of water off the south American coast. This phenomenon along with
many other inter-related weather systems can and did have a profound affect on the US west coast weather for the last year. You have
probably also heard that the colder than usual water of La Niņa has now replaced the warmer than usual temperatures of el Niņo.
Always take any weather predictions with a grain of salt, but the historical record indicates that it is likely to be a colder than
usual winter with normal precipitation in 1999 on the US west coast. The snow could be colder and lighter but there is likely to be a
lot less of it than we had last year. Surfers will probably not like this winter as much either. Less stormy weather will make the
beach lifestyle easier but smaller more northerly swells could make this a less dynamic winter. Colder water and weather would
also spur wetsuit and warm clothing sales.
The first half of 1998 has been great for board riders and already will make 1998 the subject of many epic
tales. Now that we have gone from El Niņo to La Niņa; the rest of this year and next year board sporting conditions will
probably be more average. Don't put to much faith in weather forecasts though; live the boarding lifestyle to the fullest and
be ready for whatever comes.
More Information
El Niņo and La Niņa Resources
What is an El Niņo?
What is La Niņa?
EL NIŅO/SOUTHERN OSCILLATION
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Created: June/20/96 Updated: 07/28/98