Marine Layer

[solsurfer]

I live by the beach in LA.  Often the weather is gorgeous a mile away from the coast, but down on the actual beach it's cold and windy.  (We call it June Gloom.)  Usually we head down to the beach unsure if it will be freezing, and if so, we hope that the marine layer burns off and it turns nice.  Are there any publicly available sites or resources I could use to find out if the beach is nice at the moment?  How about to predict if the marine layer will burn off (or come late)?  

 

We are close to LAX airport, so there seems to be lots of weather info for our area but I haven't been able to figure this out.  There are even web cameras that we can use to see the beach, but often it's hard to tell since its still sunny, but hazy and the cameras are wide angle and not great quality.  

 

If there aren't any resources, I was thinking I could install some sensors down there (I have friends with houses down there), but not sure what would be required. 

 

Would appreciate any and all help and advice!

[mike Meehan]

If my memory serves correct, it is fairly cold sea current there which originates from way up north by Alaska - I would suggest the best way of deciding whether it is going to be a gloomy day by the beach is to determine the direction of the wind - if the wind is travelling from the sea to the land, the likelihood is that it could be gloomy, very much like we get in the UK and early summer when the North Sea is still relatively cold and we get an easterly wind blowing in off the sea  and this brings with it what I know as North Sea Stratus but there are a number of names depending on the region.

 

On the other hand if the wind is blowing from the land to the sea the likelihood is that it will be fine especially when you consider that the interior of California has very dry desert conditions.

Edited June 29, 2013 by mike Meehan

[solsurfer]

Thanks, Mike.  Yep, the ocean is fairly cool here - around 70 in the summer.  The winds are commonly onshore since the warmer inland valleys are drawing the cool air off the ocean.  It's this condition that sets up the marine layer.  The local news will often say if there will be coastal cloudiness, etc, but I am looking for something much more precise.  I think there can be a much more precise calculation which is a function of the inland temperature versus the coastal temperature, humidity, etc.  Looking for help building out that analysis.