Re: Subscribe

From: Ken Poulton (poulton@zonker.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis)
Date: Wed Oct 21 1998 - 14:29:28 PDT


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Date: Wed, 21 Oct 1998 14:29:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: Ken Poulton <poulton@zonker.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis>
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windspeed.info --- SF Bay Area wind/weather information by e-mail.
$Header: windspeed.info,v 1.41 98/07/09 18:04:04 poulton Exp $

=== Windspeed mailing lists ===

Lists maintained by listserv@jr.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis:
    wind_afternoon Automatic hourly wind reports from noon to 6 pm daily.
    wind_thresh Automatic wind reports when the wind is over
                            15 knots (during daylight hours).
    wind_24 Automatic wind reports every hour.
    wind_talk Discussion other than current wind reports.

To unsubscribe: send e-mail to listserv@jr.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis with the contents
        unsubscribe <list_name>
To subscribe: send mail with the contents
        subscribe <list_name> <your_first_name> <your_last_name>
To switch to a once-a-day digest for wind_talk, send
        set wind_talk mail digest
To switch back to separate messages for wind_talk, send
        set wind_talk mail ack
For more info about these mailings, the data and listserv, send this:
        info <list_name>

You can also get windspeed reports by e-mail on demand - simply send a
message to windreport@jr.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis (the contents don't matter). But
please do not poll this hourly; it loads the machine too much and can
cause all the wind reports to stop.

The current hourly report is available on the web at
    http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Ken_Poulton/windsurf.html

There are web archives of the wind_talk mailing list at
    http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Ken_Poulton/wind_talk/
and
    http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~bbense/wind_talk/
For Francios' plots of the data in the last few days' reports, see
    http://and.com/BWR/BWR.html

=== Policy on what should be posted ===

For wind_thresh, wind_afternoon and wind_24:

    I (poulton@hplabs.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis) post hourly reports from Northern
    California airports.

    Other *current* wind reports (e.g., from windtalkers) are okay.
    Send these to "windspeed@jr.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis" and they will go to all four
    lists.

    Anything else that should be announced to Bay Area windsurfers in
    general, e.g., cleanup days, sewage spills, threats to windsurfing
    access locations. Please also post these to rec.windsurfing if
    possible.

For wind_talk:

    Sailing reports.

    Equipment reports - failures, reviews.

    Equipment for sale.

    Whatever else you want to say, hopefully windsurfing-related.

    No images, please.

    "Secret" sites: as a matter of courtesy, if you talk about a site
    here on the list, please be willing to share the information
    (driving directions, hazards, wind patterns) needed to sail there.

When you *reply* to a message, remember that most mailers will reply to
the whole mailing list rather than just the original author. If that
is your intent, fine, but when sending a personal message, please
remember to address the message to just that person.

=== How to post messages ===

To post to wind_talk, send e-mail to wind_talk@jr.hpl.hp.com.-DeleteThis

=== About the data ===

The windspeed data is reported in knots. It was formerly converted
to mph, but that conflicted with the SFO phone, etc, so everything
(except the Bay Area forecast) is now in knots. Pre-June92 data files I
have stored are in mph, but all are marked with mph or knots.

You can get windspeed reports on demand - simply send a message
to windreport@jr.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis (the contents don't matter). The standard
report will come by return e-mail. Please don't set this up for regular
polling because that will load my workstation unduly. Problems to
windspeed-request@jr.hpl.hp.com.-DeleteThis

=== Multiple mailings ===

Sometimes we get two mailings per hour. The reason is as follows. The
primary network data source that supplies all the current readings
(don't ask where) sometimes gets slow. My scripts retry, but the result
is that data from this source is often 15-30 minutes after the hour.

I also have secondary sources, but the data there is watered down for
use by "the public"; In particular, the wind direction is reduced to w,
nw, n, etc. I dislike using this source for SFO because there is a big
windsurfing difference between 260 and 290 degrees.

My compromise is to mail with the secondary data if the primary source
does not come through by 14 minutes past the hour. You can tell these
readings because the direction ends in "4" (indicating a resolution of 45
degrees in the direction). When the secondary source does come through,
we get a second mailing with the better data.

=== Reporting locations ===

NWS and the FAA maintain separate weather operations at SFO. The FAA
operates the 877-3585 "ATIS" recording, while NWS does the reports
we get by network. They share the temperature and dewpt instruments, but
for wind the NWS has one instrument near the intersection of the two main
runway pairs, while FAA has 6 instruments around the runways. One
other important difference is that FAA reports magnetic directions,
while NWS reports true directions. To convert, add 17 degrees
(rounded to 20, generally) to the FAA (phone) report to get true readings.
The terminal forecasts use true directions as well.

The "SOSF" data in the network reports comes from South SF on San Bruno
Mountain. I was told it is at 810 feet elevation (the ridge peak is at
1000-1200 feet) and at the nearer end of the ridge. It usually reads
2-3 knots higher than the meters at the airport.

There are broadcasts on 118.05 MHz every 30 seconds called "Shoreline
Departure". This is apparently from the SOSF instrument. It requires
an aircraft-band scanner to receive. The $20 Radio Shack aircraft radio
can just barely get this from Coyote and 3rd Ave. Real (digital)
scanners cost $100 (AC-powered) to ~$200-300 (walkie-talkie size); they
can get this signal from at least as far south as Palo Alto.

For Palo Alto, use 120.600 MHz.
For Moffett Field, use 283.000 MHz.

San_Luis_O is San Luis Obispo down the coast, not San Luis Reservoir.
Travis_AFB is about 20 miles NW of Rio Vista and seems to have similar
conditions to Rio.

"Oak_500mb" is the 500 millibar reading from the twice-a-day weather
sounding balloons released from Oakland Airport. When the jetstream
is overhead, this will show westerly around 50 knots, which tends to
add some extra push to whatever surface pattern we have.

        The Dread ASCII Graphics Map of the California Coast
                With Apologies to NOAA map MSC-9.
    '#' marks the points used to mark coastal forecast region boundaries.
---------------- CA - OR border --------------------
# Pt St George Crescent City 41.8 deg lat
  +
 + Eureka 40.8
+ Cape Mendocino 40.4
 +
  + Pt Cabrillo Ft Bragg 39.4
  # Pt Arena 38.9
    + Bodega Bay Santa Rosa 38.4
     + Pt Reyes 38.0
       + GG SF 37.7
       + Pillar Pt Half Moon Bay 37.5
       + San Jose 37.4
       + Pigeon Pt 37.2
          + Santa Cruz 37.0
          # Pt Pinos Monterey 36.6
          + Pt Sur 36.4
            +
             + Pt Piedras Blancas 35.6
              + San Luis Obispo 35.3
                # Pt Sal Santa Maria 34.9
                + Pt Conception Santa Barbara 34.5
                  +++++++++
                            + LA, etc 33.8
                             +
                              ------ CA - Mex border 32.5

=== Examples of decoding the "cryptic comments" ===

    SKY /CRYPTIC COMMENTS
    heights/100ft
    -----------------------------------
    clr
        Clear
    clr /st w-n mdt cu e-se
        Clear, stratus west to north, moderate cumulus east to southeast
    5 sct /fbnk w-n
        Scattered clouds at 500 feet, fogbank west to north
    30 sct
        Scattered clouds at 3000 feet
    30 -sct
        Thin scattered clouds at 3000 feet
    clr /h alqds
        Clear, haze all quadrants
    7 sct 12 bkn
        Scattered clouds at 700 feet, broken clouds at 1200
    clr /cu tcu omtns ne-e
        Clear, cumulus and towering cumulus over mountains northeast to east
    clr / k nw
        Clear, smoke northwest
    35 sct 250 sct /mdt cu dsnt ne=
        Scattered clouds 3,500 feet, scattered 25,000, moderate
        cumulus distant northeast
    15 -sct 40 -sct 120 -sct /k15 -sct cbs dsnt ne-e mdt cu dsnt s sw ag fire 3w few ac ne-s
        1,500 thin scattered, 4,000 thin scattered, 12,000 thin scattered,
        smoke tops 1,500 feet, thin scattered cumulonimbus distant
        northeast through east, moderate cumulus distant south to southwest
        agricultural fire 3W?, few altocumulus northeast through south

=== Common wind patterns ===

A common pattern for good summer days is to have 5-10 knots W to NW
during the night and morning, often with a lull around noon where the
wind drops and shifts to N to NE. In the next two hours the wind will
swing around to NW and pick up to 15 to 20 knots between 2 and 6 pm.
If the sky is clear or low clouds are clearing, a good morning breeze
(NW 8-10 knots) usually means a good afternoon wind.

When the marine clouds come far into the bay (e.g., morning overcast
over the whole bay), SFO may remain under the clouds and have fairly
mild wind readings (~~15 knots) all afternoon, but Coyote and 3rd can be
cranking if they are beyond the clouds. This is most easily seen from
the multi-city "sky" sections: if SFO is reporting *low* clouds (e.g, "9
sct" or "8 bkn") then it is under the marine clouds. If Hayward is
clear, then the cloud line is somewhere over the Bay, and Coyote and 3rd
are probably blowing hard. The clouds run in a stream only a couple of
miles wide from SFO to Hayward; about the time the clouds get to Hayward
the wind at Coyote and 3rd will shut off.

When we get very thick marine layers (more than 1500 feet), we will
often get fog coming over the hills way down the peninsula. This often
causes a west wind over much of the Peninsula, but may cut off Coyote
(wrong direction for the NW-facing San Bruno gap, plus the wind is more
diffused). This will generally show up as a SFO wind direction less
than 290. Sometimes Oyster Point and Flying Tigers will blow in this
case, and the winds can be higher than those recorded at SFO. 3rd Ave
can also have significantly steadier winds. If the fog is coming over
the hills as far south as Woodside, then Palo Alto is a good bet. Wind
on the water is generally 2-5 knots more than that recorded at the Palo
Alto airport.

I did some correlation experiments several years ago and concluded
that the SFO-Stockton pressure differential was the best pressure to
check at noon to predict afternoon SFO winds. My rule of thumb: -0.07
from SFO to Stockton is best. If the gradient is deeper, we tend to get
fog coming over the whole Peninsula range, which gives us 10-15 knots
everywhere. I.e., it feels "windy" in Palo Alto, but it's still only
10-15 knots at SFO and Coyote is actually worse.

My second indicator is SFO-Truckee or SFO-Tahoe - this should be less
than +0.10 or so. More indicates high pressure in the Great Basin (east
of the Sierras) which can lessen the suck from the California Central
Valley.

Another good indicator is the marine layer depth, which I have just
recently found a source for. A marine layer which is ~1000 feet
deep and has a small Temp-DewPt value (less than 3 deg C) is ideal,
as this fills the San Bruno gap, but does not flow over other
parts of the Peninsula.

Depending on where the fog line is, other good locations may be Crissy
or Berkeley. If the fog/clouds are coming well inland each night, Rio
Vista and San Luis Res are generally good. These locations tend to
crank up late in the afternoon (4 to 6 pm), blow all night and subside
sometime mid-morning. They fairly often get over 25 knots.

In the winter, look for storms with good rotation. Before it hits,
go to Half Moon Bay for flat-water sailing in the south winds.
After it passes by, go to the usual summer spots (Coyote, 3rd, Crissy, etc)
and sail in the clearing NW wind. All you get is 3-8 hours on either
side, so you have to move quick. Sometimes we also get just a major W
or NW jet-driven wind which can last longer.

=== Instrument readings vs wind at sailing sites ===

Winds near Coyote point typically are well correlated with SFO numbers.
This is not surprising, since Coyote is just 3 miles downwind from SFO.
The major gotcha is that there is a wind line caused by the southern
edge of the San Bruno gap which is near the shore at Coyote for the
typical direction of 290. Wind directions of 310 or more tend to bring
the wind all the way to the shore. Directions less than 290 will
decrease the wind at SFO somewhat, but they tend to move the wind line
way offshore at Coyote, making the wind line a mile or two offshore for
a direction of 270 or less. In these conditions, Coyote can be
practically becalmed.

I think winds at Crown Sterling tend to follow the same pattern, but
I don't sail there often enough to say for sure.

Winds in the channel at 3rd Ave are generally best correlated with the
SoSF_SBrMt readings when the direction is 300 or more. This is the same
instrument as the 118.05 MHz "shoreline departure" radio station, which
is 800 feet up on San Bruno Mountain. The major exceptions occur when
stratus clouds ("fog") get very close to the mountain - the readings get
gusty as the clouds approach and they can drop quite a bit if the clouds
completely envelop and pass San Bruno Mountain. You can tell when this
happens because the temperature gets down within a few degrees of the
SFO dewpoint temperature, usually about 55 F (the ocean temperature).

The direction at the San_Carlos station is useful for telling if the
wind is blowing over the highway 92 pass by San Mateo. When 92
is blowing, San_Carlos reads about 280; when it is not, San_Carlos
gets 330 to 020. This is about twice as much directional shift
as we see at 3rd under these conditions. The windspeed at San_Carlos
seems to be 3-10 knots less than at 3rd, so it is not very helpful.

For Tigers/Oyster, SoSF_SBrMt works well, especially on due west or
slightly southwest. If it goes 320 or more northerly, it shuts down
there.

Natural Bridges: Ed Scott wrote:
> I use the Long Marine Lab sensor [for the Natural Bridges site], which
> is on Ken's reports [as "NatBridges"], has a link through the Slug
> Video cam, and is on the buoy reports on the COTW pager. If the COTW
> sensor reads 11 or above, I check the LML sensor, and if it's blowing,
> I go. I find that the COTW sensor [ on Ken's report as "cNatBridge"]
> reads 10 lower than the actual conditions on a W or SW wind.

> If San Bruno is 280 or more, Candlestick rips. More southwesterly
> winds (<280 at San Bruno) is better for Oyster Pt. and Flying Tigers.
> On a west or southwest, Candlestick is blocked by San Bruno Mountain.

=== Tides and Hazards ===
These discussions use location-adjusted tide values.

The new tide program (xtide 1.2, Sep 95) seems to underestimate the
tidal height at higher-than-usual low tides (which will lead to more
water than expected).

The program also calculates "safe" times for 3rd and Palo Alto. These
are chosen at pretty conservative levels: +2.5 for 3rd and +4.0 for Palo
Alto. At these heights, I sail with no worries. At both sites I sail
in as much as a foot less after reminding myself where the bars are.
(One foot typically corresponds to 40-60 minutes time difference.)

    Disclaimers: The calculated tide levels may be wrong, or the
    measured "safe" levels may be wrong. Sandbars shift, people leave
    anchors or other trash in shallow water. You might be sailing with
    a fin deeper than mine. A near-miss by an asteroid might produce an
    extra low tide. Lawyers may be lurking just below the water surface
    at any time, any place. Shit happens. So use your own judgement at
    all times and don't blame me if you hit something.

For sailing at Palo Alto, we used to need a tide level of at least 4 feet.
With the new dock, 2.5 feet seems to be okay if you stay in the little harbor
channel until you pass the downwind point. The "deep"-water channel runs
right next to the white poles; everything else near the shore is mud
flats at +1 to +2 feet. Hazards: there seems to be something hard at
about +6.0 near the downwind point several hundred yards out.

Dumbarton Bridge: Take favorite route from 101 to dumbarton bridge
(Marsh Rd., Willow Rd., or University Ave). when heading eastbound
towards the highrise proper, you will see an exit for "ravenswood
wildlife refuge" or somesuch to the right just before reaching the
highrise. Take it and follow it parallel to the bridge. It goes under
the highrise to the north side. Park there, that's where the launch is.
Pretty obvious. There's a matching exit for Westbound traffic to use if
you're coming from the east bay.
I noticed during the extremely low morning tides the first week of Jul
(there was water only in the channel itself) that there is some sort of
small pile of debris on the western mudflats, about halfway between the
western edge of the channel and the western shore, and maybe 2 hundred
yds from the launch point at a 60deg angle from the longitudinal axis of
the bridge. It's about the size and shape of a race car tube frame (?).
I've never noticed it before and wonder if it is newly arrived. Anyway,
it might be a problem when sailing in lowish conditions, but probably
not when near high tide. It's the only noticable debris I've seen out
there on the east or west flats btw.

For 3rd Ave, +3 feet is the safe limit for the old launch by the blue tanks
(using the SM-adjusted tides, a little over +2 feet for GG height). At
the new launch (fenced lot) +2.5 feet is fine. +2.0 feet is still okay
for launching but is beginning to make hazards of the 4 sandbars between
the launch and the channel. The bars are:
    1) along the edge of the channel, from the channel marker towards the
        bridge - 0 ft near the marker, +1.5 ft near the bridge;
    2) about halfway from the old launch to the channel marker - +1 ft;
    3) two bars within 400 yards of the new launch, maybe 0 feet. These
        each stretch upwind starting approximately on a line between the
        new launch and the channel marker.

For Coyote Point, 0 feet is fine (you have to walk out 100 yards, but
the mud is less than 6 inches deep). There was a recent report of a
sandbar at about -1 feet just outside the swim area, however. There is
also now a post broken off at about +1 ft, situated halfway between the
two remaining posts on the side of the swimming area next to the launch
beach. Another sailor reported a 1" pipe at a 45 degree angle, top at
about +2.5 ft, about 3/4 of the way along the swim area and maybe 50 yards
upwind from the poles (just downwind of a beam reach from the upwind
corner of the swim area).

At Crown Sterling, 1 foot is enough to launch, but you need 2.5 feet to
be clear of the sandbars. The main one lies across a line between the
Crown Sterling launch and the pole in the water just south of the runway
piers (this line is nearly directly across the usual wind). It sits
about two thirds of the way from the shore to the pole, running roughly
parallel to the wind direction, maybe half a mile long. The upwind end
is at 0.0 feet, the downwind end is at +0.4 feet. There is another at
around -0.5 ft around 100 feet upwind of the pole and another downwind
of the pole (may be continuous). There is some other kind of
obstruction at -1 to 0 ft further out along the same line. Near the
shore, there is a pole with its top at +1.0 ft; it is 125 yards north of
the hotel and 30 yards from the shore.

Mariott's requires at least +5 feet (SM-adjusted, or +4 GG) to launch.

Haskins Ave requires about +3 feet to launch.

Michael's Beach needs about 0 feet to launch.

In all the above locations, remember that there are often big rocks
sitting on the bottom in otherwise just-barely-passable water. (Kirk
broke an ankle that way.)

Oyster Point, Candlestick, Crissy field and Berkeley seem to have no
problems at low tides.

Point Isabel is also pretty much always sailable. One must always pay
attention to the submerged rocks near the access point, no matter what
the tide level is. Also, the water can get pretty shallow near the
opposite shore---the new housing development in Richmond.

At Powerlines (Sherman Island) some of the levee riprap at the launch
openings goes under water at high tides, creating hazards if you sail too
close (I broke a finbox this way).

At San Luis forebay, 219 feet is the danger level (it's pumped, not tidal).
You *need* a weed fin later in the summer.

=== Site-specific etiquette ===

Fisherman at some locations have had their lines broken by too-close
windsurfers. They asked that we not sail within 100 yards of any
fishing areas - a reasonable request. The fishing areas I know of at
sailing sites would include the pier at Candlestick, the pier at Oyster
Pt, the point between Oyster Pt and Tigers, the pier at Crown Sterling
and the point just north of the main beach at Coyote.

=== Mailing list additions and deletions ===

Send requests for mailing list additions and deletions to
listserv@jr.hpl.hp.com.-DeleteThis (From HPdesk, use
"'listserv'/hp1900/um(listserv@jr.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis)") The legal commands are
given below.

    Everything appearing in [] below is optional; everything appearing
    in <> is mandatory.

    Recognized requests are:

    help [request]
    --------------
    Without arguments, this file. Otherwise get specific information on the
    selected topic.

    subscribe <list> <your name>
    ----------------------------
    The only way to subscribe to a list.

    unsubscribe <list> (or: signoff <list>)
    ---------------------------------------
    Remove yourself from the specified list.

    which
    -----
    Get a listing of discussion lists to which you have subscribed.

    set <list> [<option> <value>]
    -----------------------------
    Without the optional arguments, get a list of all current settings for
    the specified list. Otherwise change the option to the new value for that
    list.

    recipients <list> (or: review <list>)
    -------------------------------------
    Get a list of all people subscribed in the specified list.

    information <list>
    ------------------
    Get information about the specified list.

    statistics <list> [subscriber email address(es)]
    ------------------------------------------------
    Get a list of subscribers along with the number of messages each one
    of them has sent to the specified list. If the optional email addresses
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    lists
    -----
    Get a list of discussion lists that are served by this server.

    index [archive | path-to-archive] [/password]
    ---------------------------------------------
    Get a list of files in the selected archive, or the master archive if
    no archive was specified.

    get <archive | path-to-archive> <file> [/password] [parts]
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    Get the requested file from the specified archive. Certain subparts may
    be obtained by specifying them as optional arguments.

=== Files Available ===

You can get various files from the listserv by sending a message to
listserv@jr.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis with the message "get wind_talk <file>" where
<file> is one of these:

    file contents
    ---- -----------------
    SFBA A description of the SF Boardsailing Association
    safety_guide The SFBA safety guide
    SF_info Kirk Lindstrom's FAQ for SF Bay sailing
    archive The whole wind_talk archive. 2 MB in 32 chunks of 66 KB.
    windspeed.info This information file - wind_* FAQ, plus misc SF Bay info

=== People ===

I sail mostly Coyote Point and 3rd Avenue; I wear a yellow helmet
and a blue PFD; my blue Previa has Gorge Racks and license "KEN KATI".
If you see me, say hi!

=== Other Electronic Windsurfing Forums ===

There is another windsurfing mailing list called windsurfing@fly.com-DeleteThis;
this has a world-wide focus and readership. Send the message "help" to
windsurfing-request@fly.com.-DeleteThis

For those with access to Usenet (network news), there is a newsgroup
rec.windsurfing, also with global focus and readership.

=== Other Windsurf Weather Reporting Services ===

This windspeed data is available in various forms (the last is graphic)
in these places:
    http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Ken_Poulton/windsurf.html
    http://and.com/BWR/BWR.html

There are two commercial services providing windsurfing reports for Northern
California:

    Call of the Wind: A service that operates mainly via pagers and the web
    (or you can call individual windtalkers directly).
    The pagers carry current reports from their own set of windtalkers,
    plus some NWS airport and buoy sites and (nearly) daily forecasts.
    Call 1-800-WINDCALL or see http://www.windcall.com/ for info.

    Windsight: You can get a pager, or you can get an account and call
    an 800 number to get information from a phone-menu system; they bill
    your account by the time on the phone. They carry forecasts,
    current reports from their own windtalkers and some NWS sites, and
    often a couple of condition reports from spotters at major sailing
    sites. See http://www.windsight.com or call 1-800-934-2278 for
    account info.

For all services, sensor location is a big issue. At locations such as
Coyote, 3rd Ave and Crissy, the prevailing wind pattern has an offshore
windline, leading to very different conditions on the water vs. on the
beach.

=== History ===

In 1990, to check wind conditions we had to make phone calls to SFO or
one of the windtalkers set up by the SFBA. Lots of phone calls! And
lots of busy signals.

In 1991, Jonathan Hahn at NASA/Ames started an e-mail list for
windsurfers, whose major content was of the form "Hey the 2:00 SFO
report has 22 knots at [direction] 300. I'm going to Coyote [Point] !".
I started sniffing around the net for sources of weather information and
found a university site that had hourly weather condition reports
available via telnet (no web browsers waaay back then :-). That source
rather quickly caved in under the weight of too many users, but by then
there was another source. Within a month or so I took over the mailing
list since I was distributing the data. We soon separated it out
into the 4 lists there are today.

The ways I get the data today include telnet, gopher and http; I have 4
or 5 different sources from which I collect data to make the hourly
report I send out. The data is available in much sexier formats on
several web pages, but the e-mail still seems to be a better fit for a
large number of folks. Currently, we have about 300 subscribers during
the summer.

=== Acknowledgements ===



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Jan 05 2013 - 02:02:57 PST