Ormond Beach • Statistics for March

March: Spring Swell Before the Summer Lull

March continues the winter run of 2-3ft (0.7m) average surf, but the average period stretches to 8.4s, the healthiest of the late-winter months. E swell becomes even more dominant at 23.5 percent, with ENE at 16.9, ESE at 16.2, and NE at 15.1. The trade-off is on the wind side: ideal offshore conditions drop slightly to 19 percent, and SE winds start to creep up at 8.9 percent, a sign of the Bermuda High building to the east. Still, late-season cold fronts are fully capable of swinging the breeze into WSW, W, or WNW, and when that happens the ENE-facing sandbars light up with clean, hollow little peaks. Air temperatures warm to an average of 18.2°C, water temps rise to 20.5°C, and the increase in sunshine makes post-front afternoons feel positively tropical. March is a transition month, but one still worth checking for clean 2-4ft (0.6-1.2m) surf.