Raw

Death, taxes and the last wave. This was my last sesh on the gulf. Upham last month.

Moving Sale: If your in St Pete Friday or Saturday stop by and say “hi”. 8am-3pm 224 36th Ave NE. Say you heard about it on aura and the cafe con leche is on me. Fresh forecast Friday am. Will the Sunday front perform?

Wed 12/15: Finally back online. Crazy cold that last one. Just wanted to say thanks for all the great comments and reports, nice overview of what went down. My favorite was the one about a guy out in venice with only trunks and a rashguard, we need more details. Hypothermia is real. Return flow begins tomorrow and continues through Saturday. That will bring the 1ft S swell. Sunday we will have waist high, possibly a chest high peak cold front surf building thru the day. So Sunday is the next surf and the good news is the water could warm as much as 5-7 degrees with south winds, looking like upper 50’s by then so still need booties but this one wont be as cold. Origin: Pacific and not arctic. Monday knee to thigh glassy leftovers then back to flat. Have a great weekend.

 

WFL SURF FORECAST 12/9: It seems like this winter is picking up where last winter left off. If you’ve followed this site every once in a long while you may hear me say “I’ve never…” in relation to extreme FL WX. Here we go again: I’ve never seen the water hit 56 this early in the year. It’s 12/9… Maybe 2 or 3 weeks from now but this early in December? More extremes in the weather. We will have a couple days of flatness and NE and east winds… that does not really give the water enough time to warm back up before back in the freezer again. To say Sunday’s front is strong is an understatement. It’s probably in the top 3 fronts over the last 3 years, one being the big one last new years that froze us out and the other the one that killed the football players in March 09. THIS IS A BANGER. Get this forecast high for Monday 12/13:48?!?! and that may be optimistic. 32 for the low in St Pete? You will want a 3mm full with a 2mm underneath, booties, gloves and a hood for this one. Now that you know this front means business, Here is how it breaks down: Sunday it will go from flat to waist high to head high by late in the day coming up really quick WNW. Monday 48 with a wind chill in the upper 20’s and head high choppy NW surf all day. Super cold Monday night waking up Tuesday to clean waist to chest high freezing leftovers on Tuesday am. Lots of solid surf on the way you will just need a lot of quality rubber to keep you warm because the water is already cold and we are looking at another possible inland fish kill and more water in the low 50’s upper 40’s by middle of next week. Florida is a sand bar between two bodies of water on the bottom of a continent. It is always being battled over by air masses, tropical and continental. This next one is continental and arctic in origin so Florida is about to go into the deep freeze. Can I really follow this up with PR forecast? Someone asked me for one so I looked at it and here it is: Head high and glassy every day, only chest high on Sunday. The winds will be light SE. A NE swelll fills in for Monday before this arctic front swell hits next Tuesday 12/14. Wanna see huge Wildo, Tres and Wishing Well? Wanna see Gas Chambers and Crashboats break? Well this is the swell, 15-20ft NW swell will hit PR next Tuesday. Me, if I was there you ‘d see my gulfitis self at Little Malibu or Bridges. This one will be for the big boys, hope no one dies…
New Post on the Puerto Rico Page
Couple Items left: (Thanks to everyone who helped me get rid of my wetsuits. I am now rubberless. Thanks GC, way to help a bro out! I will be borrowing a wetsuit from here until January). Garage Surf Racks Padded PVC and wood, holds 6 boards($30). 1994 White Honda Civic Surf Mobile: 35 miles to the gallon! 5 speed, 4 door hoopdie with rims. $2000… Runs Great, 180,000 miles, available in January. Thanks! If your interested contact: info@aurasurf.com


39 thoughts on “Raw”

  2. Jeff King

    Yesterday was epic size late… have fun today guys… Anyone reccomend anyone for board repair before i tackle my first project

  7. Jeff King

    I was thinkin nekton because I have a slight connection but I think i wanna takle this myself… I will post pics as I go if I decide to.. Thanks for the input guys

  8. TC

    just out of the water. so not worth it. freezing cold and too much swell for my spot. mushy outside closeout shorebreak inside. somewhere will be going off the next couple days, but it’s gonna be in the 30s

  9. Jeff King

    tc sounds like sk…. burrrrrrrrrrrrrr .. the wind by st pete clwt airport was blowin my truck around.. epiccc

  10. Rob

    There is so much swell out there the Gulf is choking on it’s own tongue … whitewater visible as far out on the horizon as one can see … and literally a 5 knot drift to the south that makes paddling impossible. In short, it looks retarded.

  11. sixfootglass

    Did a few drifts and scored a few overhead lumps South of Longboat Key. Chilly but bearable with the proper gear (ie: hood, booties). Wish I had gloves too though…

  13. cw

    don’t think my head has ever been as cold as it was yesterday in the water. the first 8 times I duckdived i came up disoriented with a massive brain freeze. i don’t know how those guys up north do it all winter. a hood and booties might have helped a little…

  14. ogar

    whats the call on tommorow a.m? the swell charts got the wind still cranking please tell me we are gonna get a clean up day from this beasty front

  19. Rob

    Spoke with Micah this morning and he sends his regards. He’s got all his stuff packed up, including his computer – so here I am with your morning update / report from south Pinellas:

    Out back we have a much smaller swell in the water then yesterday in the thigh to waist high range. Tide is on the low side and closeout waves are breaking right on the beach. South of the Skyway is definately the call, but it’ll probably improve here later as the tide changes. Would not expect much more then a waist high wave (at best) in this area though.

    Also – he wanted me to post the following from our local meto, Rick Davis explaining the reasons for our recent epidemic of cold! Read on!!

    Hey Micah,

    Ridiculously cold La Nina early winter not out of the ordinary, check out the write up our climate guy put together.
    http://www.srh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=tbw&storyid=60963&source=0

    Basically the Arctic Oscillation is over powering La Nina and pushing cold fronts into the Deep South, it did the same last winter too, that’s what pushed our El Nino Gulf Lows into the Atlantic. The graph shows current AO conditions in black and forecasted AO in red. So, we should see another cold outbreak towards the end of the month. As if the Gulf isn’t cold enough. I surfed LBK for only about 30 minutes this morning after driving the entire length of AMI to find someplace that looked remotely ridable. Hard NW winds creating fast drift with very low morning tide producing mostly closed out semi bumpy chest to head+. Not fun. Looks like tomorrow AM could be fun, but frigid.

    Later, keep warm,
    Rick

    1. admin Post author

      yes Sean, yesterday was moving day, so weird to be in an empty house today, finally back on line. anybody use dragon software for voice rec?

  21. e.alland

    Rob – thanks for this AM’s post – really enjoyed Rick’s information — least I have answers to my WHY – having figured LaNina guaranteed us a warm winter — so did the Farmer’s Almanac …… my veggie garden, other then root veggies is trashed – even with the blanket of hay I covered it with last night. Hens are cranky too, no morning songs from them either….. as for me — I am beached, & I truly admired any surfer w/enough charge to catch the waves – I fear I’d have a heart attack & frigid ain’t in my DNA…. Cheers for all who have the stoke and the folks keeping us updated…..

  22. Nick

    I think Rick ^ nailed it. I drove down over the bridge this morning getting to LBK around 9 am. wind was on it but not too bad more like side shore and it looked like it was about chest high but very difficult to ride and mostly closing out. Stopped and looked at every spot after that from LBK to N AMI and apparently most people were either somewhere else, or just decided not to bother. Only a few people (4+) at each spot and really frickin cold. Waves outside of LBK were around waist to chest and totally closed out. Maybe SK was the call or Venice? I lost on this one.

  24. Rob

    Yeah. There are a few waist high nugs in SoPine … and it’s fridgid …

    Heard that a few spots S were not all that …

  26. RUSS-D

    Butt Flea was pretty fun this morning, except the friggid coldness. I survived 2.5 hours before calling it a day because of the cold. I am actualy glad i decided to not drive SOuth. Although I think way down South might have been the call. Like a certain Jetty or maybe another structure near there.

  27. fbc

    Hey V-town was pretty fun on the incoming tide after lunch… it was waist to shoulder high and the wind protection helped but the form was not the greatest, a good bit of folks showed up right around 1 PM… I thought that the winds were supposed to clock a little more NNE but as the afternoon wore on it got pretty choppy and lousy. Sooo cold and I do not have hoodie, gloves or booties but I was out for 5 hours and came in three times to warm up in the car. I really surprised myself that I could stand it that long. I had a difficult time taking vid clips with the choppy conditions but you know where you can check ’em out – it will be posted later tonight.

  29. e.alland

    FBC – vid clips??? I’ve been reduced to a spectator *smile* Anyone in the water has my Respect — you are either LOCO or incredible Winter Warriors – Good Morning????– NO IT ISN’T!!!!! – LOL – Thermal Undies under my work clothes is not a pleasure I’m at 32 w/ a windchill factor of 29 on the coast Inland 27 w/a chill factor of 26 at work(the horse barn) WHAT’S GOOD ABOUT THIS????? Serious concerns for our farmers – life is tough enough right now – Ruined crops spells disaster for everyone – the owners to the pickers. PLUS -we don’t often hear about Florida Cattle — but their grazing grass is now GONE ( was scant – no rain prior) so the cattlemen must supplement w/ haybales…this is just plain terrible for everyone!!!

    But now I’m off….. into the cold… feels like the klondike – I’m a creature of the desert – this is TORTURE

  32. capt j

    surfed a little spot near boca grande yesterday early with a low, low tide. fun hollow right handers chest to head high with just me and my boys. four of us in all. traded waves all morning until the wind got on it. reminded me of cold fronts from long ago. one thing about gulf surf, “seek and ye shall find”. thanks to micah for the hoodie, could not have done it with out!

  33. TC

    that front was whack. too windy too cold and all my spots looked like poop. Then to top it all off I was gonna hit South FL Tues morning with some friends and decided to bail last minute. Well it went off all day down there… Lets hope this next one Sun is a little better. MW can’t wait to visit you in the carib! need some warm water!

  34. btool

    No wetsuit guy is out there a lot. I’ve never seen him wearing one. I think his name’s John or Jack or something.

  35. Jeff King

    so this sunday not looking bueno??? maybe knee high n/nw. Now the big blow all day wednesday? fronts all over everywhere..

  36. admin Post author

    low pressure in the atl tries to backdoor the front. hope it straightens out. ill update the forecast tonite or tom.

    i heard gas was double o spitting pits yesterday down in PR

  38. Sean

    Yah use dragon a lit its cool to see how it garbled what u actually said! Works pretty good act! 🙂 if ya gotta go that’s a great move best on ya’ …updates from afar? Or just a upward local perspective? I’ll B down as mch as chris 6ft I guess i love PR…good move Micah lucky do- musta been hella big move Fam-n-all ….enjoy man enjoy downshift and do it right! Waaaay cool….memories of an empty house R overwhelming! Big rob L b a regular “down south” fer sure…when ur reports say dwn South they’ll mean it ….that’s awesome I’ve been threatening to do the same!!! 6th Chris prac lives there….have fun man have fun Cya h20……

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