Google have announced they will start offering encrypted search capabilities over SSL shortly.
“Earlier this year, we encrypted Gmail for all our users, and next week we will start offering an encrypted version of Google Search.”
An interesting feature, searching via HTTPS will be beneficial to users who are after additional privacy from traffic analysis risks. For example, protection from employers monitoring company LANs or whilst using public wireless networks. Note, Google will still have all your search records, there’s no additional privacy gain in that respect 
Now running: https://www.google.com