US East Coast surf forecast

The East Coast is a hurricane coast, and that shapes everything about how it is forecast. Its best surf arrives between August and October from tropical systems tracking up the Atlantic — swell that can appear with only a few days of warning and vanish just as fast. Watching the storm track is not optional here; it is the forecast.

Outside hurricane season the region runs on winter nor'easters and short-period wind swell, with a broad continental shelf that saps energy from swell before it reaches the beach. This is why East Coast breaks reward attention to period more than almost anywhere: the difference between 4 ft at 7 seconds and 4 ft at 12 seconds is the difference between closeouts and a session.