Groundswell vs. Windswell

Ever been reading the surf report and seen the swell being referred to as a windswell or a groundswell and not really known what that meant?  Me too.  I looked it up. Think of local, surface action for windswells.  Windswells are swells created by regional winds on the relative surface of the ocean.  (Think globally…

Shadowed Swell

What is a shadowed swell? Unbeknownst to a lot of Souther California surfers, many of the great swells we get originate near Alaska and Antarctica.  They don’t necesarily come from the poles per se, but storms often churn at the higher latitudes and then kindly send ripples our way.  Of course, the Earth is not…