Storms in the Atlantic...surfing during storms

[vanfossenator]

The storm season has begun here in the Southeast...When are the best times to surf when a tropical storm/hurricaneis approaching? Before, after, during(haha)? What advice/info do yall have for a rookie Florida surfer? (About 1 yr. of experience)...

For example: I have heard that 2 days before and 1 day after a northeaster front hits are the best times/conditions for surfing...I don't know if that is true, but that is the kind of information I am looking for.

What experiences have yall had with storm surfing???

[joeym4130]

I'm excited about this! Where are you at?
i'm About 7 months in surfing 1-2x a week. even on the 2 foot days cocoa beach.

This weekend, its supposed to light up as the models show today & reports say. Anything bigger then overhead and I think I will watch from the beach take some photos, unless a experienced friend can go out with me

I have No advice really for u , sorry on that, but I just wanted to say i'm in the same place mentally as you! wondering what it's gonna be like the first time!!

[vanfossenator]

Yeah bruddah I am in st. Augustine and I only been able to get out once a week for the past year...I am gonna give it a try no matter what but I am concerned it is gonna be extremely choppy...I just wonder if it will have good form and glassy at any point this weekend...its about rib high right now in some spots here in st. Aug but mushy...
Where do you get your sur reports? I use surf-station.com for my local area...
I love cocoa man great place and good peeps there!

[stuzzy07]

Well this hurricane isn't hitting us...it's gonna skirt off the coast a few hundred miles. The conditions up near you shouldn't be choppy as right now it's looking like we will have offshore winds...but the models are showing pretty significant swell..easily overhead...maybe even double overhead. That's alot of water moving around and alot of current and most beaches might not even be able to hold that size, meaing it will just wall up and close out. As far as nor easters go...that's during our winter season and they don't usualy make landfall in florida either, we just get waves from them,

[vanfossenator]

Yeah I would never go out if it hit us...these the times that are pry the best conditions as far swell created by storms...when you say wall up and close out do you mean there won't be long rideable sets? Basically the waves will gain a lot of height and just crash straight down? (you gotta love my surfing terminology )...do you think that the conditions you described would be too dangerous for newer surfers? when noreasters blow by does that create good surf everytime? Is there a general way of knowing ahead of time before the good conditions arrive?

[stuzzy07]

Well the way the models are forecasting the surf now...if it's true, it will be ridiculous on sat and probly not surfable. Just too big a swell for most of the beaches on florida. And yes wall up and close out means, you won't get a long ride. You will drop in and get mowed down by white water if you make the drop. Being new to surfing and having never surfed these conditions i would say, watch from the beach until your comfortable in bigger surf. We were planning a trip to melbourne but it looks like it will end up being too big there, so we'll just try to find some nice head high to 3 ft. overhead surf further south.

And yeah sites such as surfline.com, swellinfo.com, and magicseaweed.com are all forecasting sites. Some better than others. The best way is to check surfline the same day you are going out or just go to the beach.