PHOTOS: Pops by the Sea’s brief summer of love

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• The facts on foam: fluffy protein

  The facts on foam: fluffy protein

  An area of deep low pressure off the California coastline butted against a strong Eastern Pacific high and produced near-hurricane-force winds over the ocean about 700 miles to west-northwest of San Luis Obispo on March 31. These winds generated huge seas, reaching nearly 40 feet in height. As the sea moved under these fierce winds, it created long-period swells traveling eastward toward the Central Coast.

  These swells arrived along the San Luis Obispo County coastline April 1. They peaked at 16 feet with an 18-second period at the Diablo Canyon Waverider buoy.

  That was the biggest swell event since Jan. 19, 2010, when the Waverider buoy reached 19 feet with an 18-second period. The Cape San Martin NOAA marine buoy, stationed 55 nautical miles northwest of Morro Bay, reached even higher, at 23 feet.

• PHOTO: Look out below: Pelican-dodging in Morro Bay

  PHOTO: Look out below: Pelican-dodging in Morro Bay

  A sea gull, center left, escapes diving pelicans as they search for breakfast in Morro Bay.

• Letters to the Editor 3/22

  Letters to the Editor 3/22

  The human cost

  Is funding California public colleges worth it? Our fathers and grandfathers thought so, building a system envied throughout the world, one that even enabled us students from workingclass backgrounds to get top-notch college educations. We helped create one of the world’s biggest economies.

  However, judging by reading The Tribune, cutting hundreds of class sections at our local community colleges is less a concern than a hamburger joint’s soft-porn ads.

• Cambria talk on global warming

  Cambria talk on global warming

  This spring, lecturers will help North Coast residents learn more about weather, whales and sea otters, sharks and fishing, coastal ecosystems, coastal seabirds and what it’s like in the deep waters of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS).

  The free, hour-long lectures, sponsored by the sanctuary, are to be given from 6 to 7 p.m. every Friday from April 6 to May 25 at Rabobank, 1070 Main St., in Cambria.

  John Lindsey, weather forecaster and corporate communications representative for PG&E, will give the first lecture on Friday, April 6. His topic is the what climate change could mean for the Central Coast’s oceanographic and weather patterns;

• ‘Sculpture By The Sea’ Saturday

  ‘Sculpture By The Sea’ Saturday

  The 10th annual “Sculpture By The Sea” show at Camp Ocean Pines is coming up from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 28, at Camp Ocean Pines, 1473 Randall Drive in Cambria.

  The public can take a free look at the fruits of a week’s labor by participants in the annual California Sculptors Symposium. A barbecue lunch will be served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for $10.

  Works in stone, metal, clay and wood will be on display. Artists will also be working on ongoing projects in the camp’s meadow in pines overlooking the ocean.