Surf seasons: why summer goes flat, and where it doesn't

Big surf comes from big storms

Swell is made by strong wind blowing over a long stretch of ocean for a long time. The strongest storms happen in winter, so each ocean has a season when the surf is biggest and most frequent.

Winter is in different months

When it is summer in the northern hemisphere, it is winter in the southern one. From May to September, storms in the Southern Ocean send swell thousands of miles north, to Indonesia, Fiji, South Africa and the Pacific coast of Central and South America. Those months are often flat in Hawaii, California and Europe, whose big season runs from October to March.

Seasons are not only about size. Some breaks are best in their shoulder months, when the swell is smaller but the wind is better and the water is warmer.

Try it

The bars are each break's season, from years of wave records: taller is more good days. Move the month.

Where you see it on BarrelFare

Every spot page has the same month-by-month season chart, and Plan Ahead in the app ranks trips for any month of the year by that season and the fares from your airport.

How to read a surf report and forecast