When (and where) are there good waves? (Miami, Sebastian: spring break, to move)

[Pincho-toot]

Miami, for a beach city, seems to lack good waves for surfing. The ocean is about as flat as the land. When there are big waves, it's usually a tropical storm or hurricane. The last time I saw nice waves was last Spring break in March, but I'm not sure if that's how it always is in March. Is there a fixed wave season or are the only chances limited to storms and windy days? Also, what makes it so placid?

[Coconut1]

The ocean is much rougher in the winter/spring compared to the summer and fall. In the summer especially it is just a sheet of glass unless there is a storm.

As for why Miami has such little wave action, I don't know. I know there's a reason, I just don't happen to know it.

[FlyMIA]

When? During storms.
Where? At the beach.



Anyway Florida's and more of the East Coast and really Gulf Coast does not have the right geography for large waves like in California or Hawaii. First the most basic thing is there is much much more Ocean on the west coast. Longer distance for the waves, more wind. Also on the east coast the continental shelf is not as steep as it is in the west coast. The east coast falls off gradually. 50ft, 100ft 250ft 500ft etc.. On the west coast it will go 50ft 800ft 1500ft much quicker. Look at the Bimini the water is fairly shawllow miles off shore.

[ruski]

I heard that this is because we are protected from big waves by the Bahamian islands.

[ruski]

However you can get pretty big waves at the Haulover Inlet.

And all over Haulover Beach when storms are passing by. It is great when a hurricane blows by but doesn't come on land - we have great weather and nice waves.

Last summer it was Sandy. I did some really nice bodyboarding then.

And the summer before - Irene blew by and went north along the coast. We had sunny skies and awesome waves.

[doggiebus]

I've heard most surfers if they want any decent waves in South Florida they head to Sebastian Inlet in Vero.

[ruski]

The other day I spoke to an older surfer guy who grew up in Surfside. He was telling me that the best time to catch good waves was right when a cold front is coming through.

[ruski]

BTW you can find some nice surfing videos on Youtube at Haulover Inlet.

[bowneline]

Also, I think South Florida is just not exposed to places that get big storms.

The largest, most powerful storms on earth (outside of hurricanes) occur closer to the poles. In the ocean around Antartica, and in the Gulf of Alaska, during the winter, there is a near constant barrage from huge, powerful storms. These storms send massive swells through the ocean and any coastline that is exposed to these swells, even if thousands of miles away, will get these swells.

During the summer here in North America, it is winter down in the sea surrounding Antartica, and those storms send massive swells up to the west coast of North America, and Hawaii, both of which have a direct line of sight (so to speak) to that area of the ocean and get hit head-on by those swells.

During the winter in North America, there are gigantic and powerful storms raging in the Gulf of Alaska, and they send huge swells down to California and Hawaii, which both have a direct line of sight to that area of the ocean and get head-on by those swells.

This means that both Hawaii and California will be getting large swells all year round, as they are both exposed to the areas of the ocean that have the most energetic and powerful weather.

And, the difference between these powerful storms near the poles and a tropical hurricane, is that the hurricane is still pretty rare. You might have weeks or even a month in the summer with no real hurricane. But, in the winter, near the poles, these powerful storms often line up one after the other for months. This means that places that depend on swell from hurricane (like Florida, may have long stretches without waves. But, the places that get their waves from the poles, can often have dependable surf for weeks on end.

This effect is further amplified by the fact that the massive storms near the poles are often extremely large, stretching a thousand or more miles wide. Hurricanes are often much small in size, and the strongest winds might be concentrated in an area a few hundred miles wide. A larger area of wind, means larger swells.

This is all amplified by the fact that both Hawaii and California have very little continental shelf. The water off the coast of Southern California drops to as much as 3000 feet in about 10 miles, and may be a hundred feet deep just a few hundred feet off shore. This allows the energy from a storm to move unimpeded into shore. Shallow water can snuff out a swell, which is likely the case in many areas of Florida, where shallow waters stretch far out to sea.

If you look at Florida on a world map, you will see that you cannot draw a straight line from its shores to the oceanic waters near either pole. The Antartic is blocked by South America, and the coast off Greenland is blocked largely by Canada or the Bahamas.

Then, what swell there is is probably dampened by the continental shelf.

All of this means that South Florida, especially Miami, will get very few real swells. Whereas in places like California and Hawaii, there might be surfable waves 250 days out of the year, in Miami, it might only be a dozen days out of the year.

[hurricaneMan1992]

You get some big storms in the north Atlantic which send swells to the northern Caribbean islands, such as Puerto Rico. The thing is to get the swell down to South Florida, there is only a narrow path you can take between Grand Bahama Island and Florida. Also, in most of Miami-Dade the coast is oriented north/south but you'd really want to be perpendicular to that path between the Bahamas and Florida.