West Cornwall - Sunny spells - Red flagged beaches

[Graham Easterling]

Overnight minimum of 15.4C in Penzance, so a mild night. Couple of brief light showers this morning, and blustery F4-5 westerly wind and sunny spells. Maximum so far 18,4C.

Quite a powerful swell running, certainly more dangerous sea conditions on the beaches than during Storm Evert, when there were all sort of warnings.

This was Perranuthnoe around 10:00  on 30th July when there were all sorts of warnings still in place, I had a swim.

A red flagged Sennen today, when it could become quite bad near high tide.

It may look pretty but it's a longer period, rippy, powerful swell, the most powerful for some weeks. I certainly wouldn't venture in in that. I bet the lifeguards are on edge, potentially the most dangerous sea of the Summer on the north coast beaches. 

Storm Evert was much too quick moving, and certainly rather a damp squid (unless you were in a tent, or moored near Scilly, or on the Sennen lifeboat going to help a summer sailors in a yachts dragging their anchors) to generate any more than a rough sea. The current low is sitting around long enough to generate a decent swell. Currently the height at Sevenstones is comparable with Evert, but the period much longer, and that's the most important element when it comes to power & wave setup surges.

You can't go by the period reported by wave buoys, a bit of an explanation as to why 

http://surfforecasting.magicseaweed.com/?p=1880

Because there's a 6 second wind wave, which has no power, the period reported from Sevenstone's is way less than the current 12 sec period where all the power is.

Sun's nice though and the sea looks pretty

Graham

Penzance

[Graham Easterling]

High Tide, with the wave setup the sea's well above where it should be for a fairly small tide. A sea state which would be fairly impressive in mid winter. Lifeguards stopping people (or strongly suggesting they stop) on the ramp down to the beach. They are earning their money today.

Maximum temperature in a blustery, but fairly sunny, Penzance, 18.8C. 

Graham

Penzance

[Graham Easterling]

The lifeguard trying to block access, fairly successfully luckily. He won't want to rescue people in that. 

Graham
Penzance