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Our fair city of Santa Cruz California is enjoying some phenomenal late winter weather as we swing into spring. Going into winter last November everyone was talking about water rationing and drought. Before we knew it the first big storm of the season hit us with huge waves, fierce winds and lots of rain. The waves breaking along the cliffs of West Cliff Drive were epic, sweeping down the coast, hammering the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf, The Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbor, Pleasure Point, The Capitola Wharf, The Capitola Esplanade and on down to New Brighton State Beach and the cement ship at Seacliff Beach. Check out these great links for more info on these local beaches. The winds were howling, knocking down trees, power lines and wreaking all kinds of havoc. There was flooding in Felton and Ben Lomand and many of the mountain communities of the San Lorenzo Valley with lots of backed up storm drains and overflowing streams throughout the entire County of Santa Cruz including all of the Santa Cruz Mountain Communities from the Aptos Hills to Bonny Doon. For some awesome photos of the winter storms wrath check out the photos archives at our local newspapers's website, www.SantacruzSentinel.com This Santa Cruz weather pattern continued thouughout the winter as the storm door was opened and subtropical moisture slammed into the Monterey BAy courtesy of the pineapple express. According to the NOAA website my favorite place for accurate forecasts, this wet El Nino weather is on its way out and we are looking forward to some balmy spring weather in Santa Cruz.
Some recent, local photos:
One of the benefits of all this wet weather in Santa Cruz is lots of snow in the Sierra Nevada. Living in Santa Cruz, we are blessed to have all kinds of great outdoor activities close by. We can load up our skiis and snowboards and head up to Lake Tahoe. We can take a short drive to Monterey and Carmel and enjoy sailing, birdwatching and diving. We can stay right here and enjoy local parks like Wilder State Park and The Forest of Nicene Marks for some of the best mountain biking anywhere. We can grab our surfboards and find fantastic waves at spots like Natural Bridges State Park, Steamer Lane, Cowells Beach, Blacks Point, Pleasure Point, Capitola, New Brighton, and Manresa State Beach. Whatever the weather in Santa Cruz we are truly blessed to live in such an amazing place with such easy access to all manner of outdoor activities and natural beauty and wonder.
