Ammonias Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s get into it.

Straight up, we’re looking at a pretty bleak stretch for Ammonias. This is a reef break that needs a clean southerly swell and offshore nor’westers to really fire, but what we’ve got on the cards is a whole lot of cross-onshore, choppy, and messy conditions. It’s going to be a long wait for anything decent.

For the first week and a half, from Wednesday the 15th right through to around Monday the 28th, the surf is mostly poor. The wind is almost always blowing from the east or east-northeast, which is cross-on here, and that’s just ruining the surface. The combined energy is often moderate, with figures like 162 (weak) or 342 (moderate), but with the wind chopping it up, it doesn’t matter much. The swell is mostly small, around 2ft to 5ft, but the periods are all over the place – short junk on the 17th (6 seconds) and some longer groundswell on the 16th (16-17 seconds) that just gets wrecked by the wind.

There’s a glimmer on Sunday the 19th afternoon. The swell bumps up to 5ft from the east-northeast, but the period is a short 8 seconds. The combined energy hits 547 (moderate), and the wind is just cross-shore. It’s still only a marginal call, not clean, but it’s the best of a bad bunch. The water temp is about average for the time of year.

The real standout, if you can call it that, is the very end of the run. On Saturday the 25th, we've got a chunk of energy in the water. The swell is 3-4ft from the south and south-southwest, with a long period of 18-19 seconds, and the combined energy is strong (1172 and 1154). That’s proper groundswell. The wind is still cross-shore from the northeast, so it won’t be glassy, but it’s the best we’ve got. Keep in mind, with that long period, it might break a bit straight at the beach, but at a reef like Ammonias, it could shape up alright. It’s still only a marginal rating, but this is the one to watch. Crowds are often a problem here, so expect company.

For the rest, it’s a flat, choppy, or messy run. There’s a gap of almost no surf from the 15th to the 18th, then a few marginal days before another poor stretch. The 25th is the only one that sparks any real interest, and it’s still a long way out, so treat it as promising but not locked in.

Rusty.

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