Swell Maps - How To Use The Swell Maps

HOW TO USE THE SWELL MAPS
The Swell Map section is an invaluable tool for every surfer chasing waves in Costa Rica, and is the very first product that has ever plotted the local offshore bathymetry as a tool to find the best waves in Costa Rica. As we know, the offshore bathymetry and continental shelf plays a huge role in focusing swell energy along the coastline and the exact same swell could have up to a 10 foot difference in wave height along only a few miles of coastline! In the Swell Maps we have plotted the most typical swell directions for the Pacific coast of Costa Rica with a long swell period of 18 seconds to show the typical scenario of how the swells will be affected by the offshore underwater bathymetry.

Swell directions above Northwest-295 degrees are blocked by the coast of Mainland Mexico from reaching Costa Rica, and swell directions below South-180 degrees are typically blocked by the coast of South America. Other long period swell directions between the West/southwest-240 and West-275 degrees are not practical from storms in the North or South Pacific, but may be rarely possible as short period swells from brief hurricanes off Mexico. Read more

Swell Maps - Sources of Swell

SOURCES OF SWELL
The North Pacific: This is the breeding ground for Costa Rica’s west and northwest swells with medium to long swell periods (14+ seconds). Storm activity drops down from the Arctic Ocean over the North Pacific between November and March, with the peak storm months generally between December and February.

Occasionally, the remnants of a typhoon in the western Pacific will merge with a North Pacific storm coming off Siberia. The mixture of cold air with warm tropical air in this type of weather system can develop a super-charged extratropical storm with hurricane force winds and huge seas in the Central Pacific, resulting in a substantial west or northwest swell for the entire Pacific West coast of North and Central America—sometimes as early as October. Read more