April 8, 2023: Good morning, Bay Islands! We had a fairly quiet night for once; at least it was quiet when it came to the wind. We wake up to 15 mph winds and 3 foot seas and they will continue that way through the day and tonight under clear skies.
Tomorrow we start seeing even calmer conditions with winds 5-10 mph and seas 1-2 feet. Monday and Tuesday we might see flat calm conditions with winds 3-7 mph and seas 0-1 foot. Hopefully we can get one or two passing morning showers, but don’t expect much in the way of rain. Calm conditions last through Thursday. After that we’re back to our easterly trade winds.

Low tide is 4:03 p.m. Have a great weekend!

Is the wind unusual for this time of year? It is hard to say because we don’t have good records of previous years’ winds from good locations 30 feet off the ground and away from trees and buildings (the requirement for a good wind measurement)

but my location was running after the first week of last April and we did get winds into the 30 mph range at night at least a couple of times.

Of course, this year in March we got up well into the 30 mph range several nights, but we also had several nights around 20 mph in the early part of the month. I always tell folks the best time of year to visit the island is October and the first part of November, when it is often flat calm and not very rainy, and also not very crowded. This time of year is dry, but quite windy on average.

You can see this on the history of the weather station on the south side at First Bight. Notice how low the winds were from late September to late November last year.

April 7, 2023 Good morning Bay Islands! Lots of folks are ready to head to the beach today, and we will start to see some lower winds. This morning we have south winds at 20 mph and seas at 4 feet. Winds during the day today will be 15-20 mph and seas at 3 feet. Tonight winds will be 17-22 mph and seas at 4 feet. Saturday winds will be 15 mph and seas at 3 feet. Sunday is when we really see the difference with winds 5-10 mph and seas 1-2 feet. Those wonderfully calm conditions will last through Wednesday. During this period we will also have a chance of some of those morning showers, especially Monday and Tuesday. I don’t expect a lot of rain, but a little would help. Starting next Thursday the winds return. The long-range forecast is trying to give us some rain around the 20th, but this time of year those forecasts usually dry up, but we’ll watch it.

Low tide is 3:16 p.m. Have a great day and be safe this weekend!

April 6, 2023: Good morning Bay Islands. We wake up to 20 mph winds and 5 foot seas. Last night the winds got up to 40 mph and 7 foot seas. Today and tonight will continue windy, though not QUITE as windy, with winds 28-33 mph tonight and seas around 6 feet. Tomorrow we start to calm down, with winds 18-22 mph and seas at 4 feet. Tomorrow night will be noticeably calmer, with winds about the same as the daytime. Saturday winds will be around 15 mph and seas at 3 feet. Sunday we start a period of quite calm conditions, with winds light and variable and seas around 1 foot. We’re still looking for a few morning showers, though they will be very few.

Low tide will be 2:38 p.m. Have a great Thursday!

April 5, 2023: Good morning Bay Islands! We awake to 25 mph winds and 5 foot seas after reaching 39 mph and 7 foot seas last night. We have two more nights of this before we start calming down. Good Friday will be a bit calmer, Saturday even calmer, and Sunday through Wednesday we will have some of the calmest winds and seas we’ve had in perhaps a month and a half. The rain chances don’t look great, but as we get into next week I think we will start getting a few scattered morning showers.

Low tides are 2:05 p.m. and 2:36 a.m. Remember, most banks close at noon! Have a great Wednesday!

April 3, 2023: Good morning, Bay Islands! We have a few clouds moving from southeast to northwest this morning. It is possible but not likely there is a small shower in there somewhere, but they will pass by quickly and skies will clear.

We awake to 20 mph winds and 4 foot seas. Seas should calm by midday to about 3 feet, but this evening, winds will speed up to 25-30 mph and seas to 5 feet. During the day tomorrow winds will be 20-25 mph and seas around 4 feet. Tuesday night and Wednesday night should be the waviest of the week, with winds 33-38 mph and seas up to 7 feet. Starting Friday things will start getting calmer and Sunday will be a gorgeous day with calm winds and seas. Also, starting this weekend into next week we should start seeing a few more scattered morning showers.

Low tides are 2:11 p.m. and 1:03 a.m. Have a great (and safe) holiday week!

April 2, 2023: Good morning Bay Islands. We have a few clouds passing over this morning, but it is unlikely we will even get a sprinkle.

Last night winds were mostly around 25-30 mph and seas got up to 5 feet. This morning we have calmed to 15 mph and seas at 3 feet. Winds and seas will be about the same during the day today, but we’ll get windier late this evening, with east winds 25-30 and seas around 5 feet. Tomorrow will be much like today, but Monday night, Tuesday night and Wednesday night should be quite windy, with winds 30-35 mph with occasional gusts close to 40 mph and seas 6-7 feet. Friday things start to get calmer, and Sunday into the first part of the following week looks quite calm. That is also when we start getting better rain chances.

Low tides are 12:48 p.m. and 1:02 a.m. Have a great Sunday!

March 2023 precipitation. No surprise. March was a dry month and we are headed into statistically our driest month of the year. Officially we are putting 2.76 inches in the bucket, our driest since the horrible drought year of 2019. Last year we got almost 10 inches, but average we have 3.53 for March. Here in Jonesville Point we barely got 1 inch for the month. April is the peak of the dry season with an average of 1.5 inches. But back in 2020 we got no rain at all in April. The long range forecast gives us slightly better chances of morning showers toward the middle of the month, but nothing to get excited about. Time to call the water truck.

March 31, 2023: Good morning Bay Islands. We have one more day of moderate winds and 3 foot seas before the stronger winds and seas start again tonight. As you can see in the chart, starting tonight we will have nighttime winds 30-35 mph and seas around 6 feet and daytime winds 18-25 mph and seas usually around 4 feet. We will have some high clouds over the weekend but basically no chance of rain.
Tuesday through Thursday winds are even crazier with seas getting back up to 8 feet at night.
Good Friday through the holiday weekend looks a bit calmer. Earlier we were thinking there would be scattered showers that weekend but we now think those will wait for the following week.

Low tides are 12:12 p.m. and just after midnight at 12:09 a.m. tonight. Have a great Friday!

March 30, 2023: Good morning Bay Islands! We got some rain over the island, especially in the 6 am. hour and especially between West End and Sandy Bay, where we’ve almost picked up half an inch as of 7 a.m.

We’re still dry on the east side, but there is one more round of clouds and potential showers over Barbarat that may come this way, probably before 9 a.m. After that we should be sunny and nice. This is the least windy day we’ve had in awhile. Seas are 3 feet and winds are around 15 mph. Those conditions continue through today.
Tonight winds will be 20-25 mph and seas 4 feet. There will be a small chance of rain, smaller than this morning’s chance was.
Tomorrow we will again have 15-20 mph winds and 3 foot seas, but starting tomorrow night we get dry and windy and those conditions go through the weekend into next week. We may not be QUITE as windy as last week. Last week our winds got up to 40 mph and 8 foot seas. For the first part of Semana Santa, nighttime winds will be 30-35 mph and seas 6-7 feet. The end of Semana Santa looks a little calmer and with maybe some scattered showers, especially that weekend.

Low tides today are 11:51 a.m. and 11:42 p.m. Have a great Thursday!