BajaNomad

East coast vs west coast

dccf - 5-29-2009 at 08:47 AM

I have only been to Baja a couple of times and have gone to San Felipe both times. I was told by locals that it gets really hot in the summer months and I can believe it. Others have told me that the west coast is much cooler in the summer. Is there any truth to that and if so, what kind of high temp can I expect say, in Bahia Asuncion?

Thanks

David K - 5-29-2009 at 08:53 AM

Yes... the east coast is a desert... and deserts get hot in summer... 100º is not unusual, and the water is very warm, too.

The opposite coast, near Colonet is cooled by the cold Pacific, fog and cool breezes in the summer.

Further south the overcast conditions of summer remain high, keeping the coast cool... However, the Vizcaino Peninsula seems to cause a break in the foggy, grey sky conditions and Asuncion gets sunshine in the summer... VERY NICE!

dccf - 5-29-2009 at 08:58 AM

Thanks David. Also, I read your trip report about the Memorial Day trip. Great pictures! Both times I went to San Felipe, I thought that detour was going to rip the bottom out of my motorhome. Does it look like there is much left to do on the highway?

thebajarunner - 5-29-2009 at 08:59 AM

Remember Mark Twain's great quote:

"The coldest winter of my life was the month of August that I spent in San Francisco"

Our Pacific Ocean is an amazing air-con machine, top to bottom, and summer along the Pacific is not a warm place to be....

dccf - 5-29-2009 at 09:05 AM

My son lives in San Diego and gotta admit, summer is pretty nice. I guess I can expect temps a little warmer than SD but still comfortable. :)

David K - 5-29-2009 at 09:05 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by dccf
Thanks David. Also, I read your trip report about the Memorial Day trip. Great pictures! Both times I went to San Felipe, I thought that detour was going to rip the bottom out of my motorhome. Does it look like there is much left to do on the highway?


Well, the highway is much higher than the detour and one cannot see the surface and I recall at least two bridges that were far from being completed... The detour is about 10 1/2 miles long and begins not too far south of Hwy. 3 (military checkpoint). For me in a Tacoma, it was excellent and smooth most of the way (50 mph), nearly dust free compaction... In a motorhome, I am sure it is torture!

DENNIS - 5-29-2009 at 09:07 AM

East Coast ---- West Coast = Two different worlds. Best solution is to have a place on both sides.

shari - 5-29-2009 at 09:07 AM

I dont do well in the heat which is why I am able to live in Asuncion year round. The summers are perfect...in the high 80's and low 90's with a nice ocean breeze to keep it cool. A half hour inland and it's an oven but the village is very pleasant...nobody need A/C here. I might use a fan to sleep for a couple weeks in september which is the hottest month. It is lovely from July-December when it gets chilly but the water is swimmable till february...right now its dang cold for swimming but nice air temps.
We went to Sta.Rosalia last week and I nearly died in the heat and it's only May!!!!

dccf - 5-29-2009 at 09:10 AM

I went down for the Baja 250 and there were two detours, first one was about 3 miles long and the second about four. I don't think it had been graded in a month. I read not long ago that there had been a couple of head on crashes on the detour. (Kat Korner) I think she said there was a death in one of the accidents.

[Edited on 5-29-2009 by dccf]

[Edited on 5-29-2009 by dccf]

David K - 5-29-2009 at 09:10 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by dccf
My son lives in San Diego and gotta admit, summer is pretty nice. I guess I can expect temps a little warmer than SD but still comfortable. :)


I live in Oceanside, about 5 miles in from the coast... and we get a lot more sun than the coast... The fog/ overcast comes to Hwy. 5 most days and people on the beach may only get a couple hours of sun... East of I-5 it is all sun and warm to hot, the further east you go. Escondido is about 20 miles from the coast and will have many days over 100º, in the summer.

I think you will like Asuncion... see Shari's website slideshow. http://bahiaasuncion.com

dccf - 5-29-2009 at 09:13 AM

Sorry for the double post.

dccf - 5-29-2009 at 09:15 AM

I've heard about the May grey and the June gloom but if that's the only negative, guess you can live with it.
;D

David K - 5-29-2009 at 09:19 AM

September is the best month on the Pacific Coast... IMO. More clear, sunny days...

As for double posts: Click on Edit (just to the right of the date and time of the post you wish to remove), then click "delete this message" and click "edit post" to remove it.

Bajahowodd - 5-29-2009 at 10:39 AM

It's the good old Japan current that runs South from the Arctic, combined with the prevailing Northwesterly wind that cools the West Coast, virtually as far South as Cabo. Folks living in La Paz know well how much cooler it is in Todos Santos than La Paz in mid-summer. In the Eastern US, the Gulfstream does just the opposite, especially in the summer.

shari - 5-29-2009 at 10:42 AM

we dont get much may grey or june gloom here for some reason...mostly sunny. My favorite months here is Oct-Nov as sept is a big hot for me but fine for others...LOVE that Japanese current.

k-rico - 5-29-2009 at 11:04 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by shari
I dont do well in the heat which is why I am able to live in Asuncion year round. The summers are perfect...in the high 80's and low 90's with a nice ocean breeze to keep it cool. A half hour inland and it's an oven but the village is very pleasant...nobody need A/C here. I might use a fan to sleep for a couple weeks in september which is the hottest month. It is lovely from July-December when it gets chilly but the water is swimmable till february...right now its dang cold for swimming but nice air temps.
We went to Sta.Rosalia last week and I nearly died in the heat and it's only May!!!!


Hi Shari,

When does the water temp hit 70 in Asuncion?

shari - 5-29-2009 at 12:28 PM

probably not till august...when the south swells start to come up here and currents change...oh well, cold water is good for ya!!!

Bajahowodd - 5-29-2009 at 04:45 PM

70 when you are lucky. It's a mixed bag. You can't have warm water and cool temps ashore. Anyone who has been to South Florida, the Caribbean, or places like Mazatlan, have experienced bathtub temps in the summer and early fall. That comes with sultry weather. Some folks love it. Others, not so much. A matter of personal taste. Reminds me of the area around Guadalajara. In the aspect that temps stay moderate. High elevation, despite it's Southern location.

shari - 5-29-2009 at 05:00 PM

the ocean can get up to 80 here in the late summer but is usually in the mid to high 70's from august-dec.

Sea of Cortez in the summer

Mulegena - 5-29-2009 at 05:12 PM

Eat, sleep and live in the water...
otherwise you die, landlubberz!

Surface water temps are 96 degrees farenheit for several months. Mornings in the boat are actually cold, and when you come to shore after a fabulously refreshing day at sea you'll suddenly remember how hellishly hot it is on land.

Last August I scuba dived Isla San Marcos to 120 feet with 80 degree max temp with lots of cold, shimmering vertical termoclines (brrrr!! ahhhh!! brrr!....). In late October I did the same dive at 81 constant degrees warm, no thermocline and great viz. (heaven, I'm in heaven...)

BMG - 5-29-2009 at 05:25 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bajahowodd
It's the good old Japan current that runs South from the Arctic, combined with the prevailing Northwesterly wind that cools the West Coast, virtually as far South as Cabo.
First time I've ever heard that. The Kuroshio Current (Japan Current) is a warm current that flows north through, of all places, Japan. A branch of the Kuroshio Current flows almost to the Hawaiian Islands. The other branch merges with the cold Oyashio Current and form the North Pacific Current. The North Pacific Current splits and becomes the Alaska Current and the California Current.

California and Baja California weather is affected by the cool California Current. Nature's air conditioning.

BMG - 5-29-2009 at 05:27 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by shari
the ocean can get up to 80 here in the late summer but is usually in the mid to high 70's from august-dec.
Shari, looking forward to some of that "lucky" mid-70 water temp.

Mulegena - 5-29-2009 at 05:34 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by BMG
Quote:
Originally posted by Bajahowodd
It's the good old Japan current that runs South from the Arctic, combined with the prevailing Northwesterly wind that cools the West Coast, virtually as far South as Cabo.
First time I've ever heard that. The Kuroshio Current (Japan Current) is a warm current that flows north through, of all places, Japan. A branch of the Kuroshio Current flows almost to the Hawaiian Islands. The other branch merges with the cold Oyashio Current and form the North Pacific Current. The North Pacific Current splits and becomes the Alaska Current and the California Current.

California and Baja California weather is affected by the cool California Current. Nature's air conditioning.


Hmmm, have I not read in a Baja travel book about the current that deposits floating ocean debris from the Orient onto the Baja Pacific Coast around Guerro Negro and southerly environs?

BMG - 5-29-2009 at 06:04 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Mulegena

Hmmm, have I not read in a Baja travel book about the current that deposits floating ocean debris from the Orient onto the Baja Pacific Coast around Guerro Negro and southerly environs?
The currents in the North Pacific flow in a clockwise rotation. Counter-clockwise in the South Pacific. All of the currents move garbage that is eventually deposited on shores or trapped in the center of the currents to create gigantic garbage patches in mid-ocean. The North Pacific garbage patch is estimated to contain millions of tons of mostly plastics.

Sailing in remote islands and atolls in the South Pacific we found lots of trash washed up on otherwise pristine shores. Mostly plastic bottles. The last time we sailed from Hanalei to San Francisco we saw trash floating much of the way.

fishbuck - 5-29-2009 at 06:09 PM

There is no one perfect place in baja either east or west coast.
But many locations have "perfect" times of year.
Winter time in San Felipe is really nice for example. But it's beyond hot in summer time.
So the key is to know what is good and when... and then go there... whether it's SOC or Pacifica.:cool:

David K - 5-30-2009 at 07:44 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Mulegena
Quote:
Originally posted by BMG
Quote:
Originally posted by Bajahowodd
It's the good old Japan current that runs South from the Arctic, combined with the prevailing Northwesterly wind that cools the West Coast, virtually as far South as Cabo.
First time I've ever heard that. The Kuroshio Current (Japan Current) is a warm current that flows north through, of all places, Japan. A branch of the Kuroshio Current flows almost to the Hawaiian Islands. The other branch merges with the cold Oyashio Current and form the North Pacific Current. The North Pacific Current splits and becomes the Alaska Current and the California Current.

California and Baja California weather is affected by the cool California Current. Nature's air conditioning.


Hmmm, have I not read in a Baja travel book about the current that deposits floating ocean debris from the Orient onto the Baja Pacific Coast around Guerro Negro and southerly environs?


I suggest Mike McMahan's 1973 book 'There It Is: Baja!' or the newer 1983 paperback version, renamed 'My Adventures in Baja' to read about MALARRIMO BEACH... which is the 'hook' halfway down the peninsula that grabs the Pacific Currents floating treasures and junk...

Photo is a closeup from one in the book showing their loot collected... Mike is on the right, next to his daughter Ginger and son-in-law Chuck Potter :

[Edited on 5-30-2009 by David K]

nomad 032.jpg - 39kB

Mark Twain's actual quote

bajagrouper - 5-30-2009 at 07:49 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by thebajarunner
Remember Mark Twain's great quote:

"The coldest winter of my life was the month of August that I spent in San Francisco"

Our Pacific Ocean is an amazing air-con machine, top to bottom, and summer along the Pacific is not a warm place to be....


“The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco”

Bajahowodd - 5-30-2009 at 12:22 PM

BMG- I stand corrected. However, my source was my father, who spent his life on the seas as a merchant marine. He told me that the entire clockwise circulation throughout the North Pacific was referred to as the Japan current by those at sea. Helluva time to find out he lied.:biggrin: