Sunday, November 3, 2013

11/3/13 Report - Indicators for Predicting Beach Detecting Conditions & Getting Leads From Old Home Movies


Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.


Here is the TBR FOD.

It is a nice heavy 18K band.  I like the nice buttery look of 18K.



When I originally started this blog the primary purpose was to help you make good use of your time by knowing when beach detecting conditions would be good and when they would be poor.  I developed my Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Conditions Rating Scale, which is a five-point scale with 1 indicating poor conditions and 5 excellent detecting conditions.  Conditions have been so consistently poor for so long that I quit giving a daily report.  Shortly after I began the blog I also started to talk about a lot of other things, such as finds.   Some of that other stuff, can also tell you something about beach detecting conditions, even if not as directly.

Lately my attention has been on the surf predictions.  It looks like we very well might get a significant change in beach detecting conditions, and not just for a day or two.  This is as hard to predict in advance as the weather. 

It looks like the weather has begun to change.  I noticed yesterday from the waves on the Indian River that the wind was now coming from the North.

You can often get some idea of what is going on at the beach by looking at the Indian River.  You can tell for example, how the wind is affecting the water, including the direction and strength.



Surf Chart for Today and the Coming Week.
From MagicSeaWeed.com.

I noticed yesterday that the Indian River was showing the effect of a change in wind direction.  The waves on the river were small, but now coming from the North.  That hasn't been the case for a while.  Most recently the waves on the river have usually been coming from the east or southeast.

A lot of white caps on the river is  a good sign that there will some growing waves on the ocean.  Of course the river doesn't tell you perfectly what is happening on the ocean, but it will give you some information.   When the Indian River is smooth, the chances are that the ocean is smooth too, and vice versa -  not always, of course, but more often than not.

I even noticed some small erosion along the west bank of the Indian River yesterday.  I'd say about of foot of sand was moved away from in front of the west bank where I noticed it.

Here is some of what the National Weather Service says for Nov. 3.

.HAZARDOUS MARINE CONDITIONS FOR SMALL CRAFT TODAY THROUGH THE
MIDDLE OF THE WEEK...

...WINDY CONDITIONS WITH BUILDING SURF AND MODERATE BEACH EROSION
EXPECTED EARLY THIS WEEK AT THE COAST...

TODAY...SHORT RANGE MODELS SHOW INCREASING PRESSURE GRADIENT BEHIND
THE FRONT THAT MOVED THROUGH THE AREA YESTERDAY. NORTHERLY LOW LVL
FLOW WILL BECOME NNE/NE LATER THIS AFTERNOON. WILL SEE BREEZY TO
WINDY CONDITIONS DEVELOP UNDER MOSTLY SUNNY SKIES TODAY.

EXPECT N-NE WINDS TO INCREASE TO 15-20 MPH AREA-WIDE TODAY WITH SOME GUSTS TO 25-30 MPH THIS AFTERNOON IN THE LAKE WIND ADVISORY AREA.  

THERE WILL BE A STRONG LONGSHORE SOUTHWARD FLOWING CURRENT AT THE BEACHES WITH ROUGH
SURF DEVELOPING THIS AFTERNOON. 

TONIGHT...SFC HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD DOWN THE ATLC COAST
STRENGTHENING THE LOW LVL ONSHORE FLOW FROM THE NE.

If you look at MagicSeaWeed or some of the other surfing web sites, one of the first things you'll notice is that the high tides are high and the low tides are getting lower.  Recently, the low tides have  not been going down much.  That should help beach detecting next week.

The next thing to notice is how high and for how long the surf will be up.  As you can see from the chart above, Sunday a two to three foot surf is predicted and Monday a four to six foot surf is predicted.  But the most encouraging thing is that not only will the surf be higher, it will remain fairly high for an entire week if the predictions are correct.  And all of that with some good tidal changes.

That is the longest period of higher surf that I remember for maybe a year or more.

I often say that it doesn't take a hurricane.  A good northeaster that sits out there in the ocean and churns for a while can be just as good.

It can take a while for the sand to be moved.  There is now a lot of summer accumulation.

Also look at the wind charts.  We're expecting first north winds and then northeast winds for a good while.  That is promising too.

All told, the predictions are now very encouraging.  But, as you know, it is difficult to predict the weather and predicting beach detecting conditions is even more difficult.  We'll soon see if the surfing web sites are correct.  In any case, the predictions are the most encouraging I've seen for quite a while.

Just an Interesting Picture
From Reutters News Service.

They had a big storm over in England a few days ago.  Here is a photo from that.

Undoubtedly some new disscoveries will be made over there as a result of the storm.


I recently discovered another source of good detecting leads - old home movies.

Back in the fifties or sixties people were making home movies using cameras such as the Super 8.  Today you might discover some of those old home movies, but not be able to find a working projector to view them.   An alternative is to send those films to a service to have them transferred to DVD.   It isn't terribly expensive and can end up being very enjoyable.

You can also try to get an old used projector or film viewer.  That can be done on eBay or places like that.

Anyhow, once you find some old film and are able to look at it, you'll often find pictures of old beaches, parks or structures that not longer exist.  It can be a good source of leads.

If you want to discover some new places to detect, try a little research.

 
 
Here is an interesting article on what happens when you send email.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/31/21267720-how-the-feds-snoop-what-happens-when-you-hit-send-on-your-email?lite

The last sentence of that article is misleading.  Mail is monitored too.


Happy hunting
TreasureGuide@comcast.net