December 2020 brought one of those winter storms that makes you look at the ocean a little differently.
Winter Storm Gail moved up the East Coast on December 16–17, 2020, bringing snow, freezing temperatures, strong winds and a powerful swell to Long Island. While most people were watching the forecast to see how much snow was coming, surfers were watching the ocean.
I headed down to Lido Beach with my camera to film the surfers taking on the storm.
And it was snowing while I was out there.
A 20-Foot Swell Hits Long Island
This wasn’t just a little winter swell.
As Gail moved north along the coast, the storm generated a significant ESE swell that reached the Long Island buoy, NOAA buoy 44025. The buoy recorded a peak of approximately 20 feet at 10 seconds early on the morning of December 17. Offshore seas associated with the storm were reaching roughly 20 to 25 feet, with easterly winds approaching 50 knots aimed directly toward the New Jersey and Long Island coastline.
The timing was remarkable. The storm moved into the Northeast on Wednesday afternoon, December 16, with the surf building through the night. By first light Thursday morning, December 17, the swell was peaking.
Surfline reported that the Long Island buoy had reached 20 feet at 10 seconds just before sunrise.
That is a serious amount of water moving toward the beach.
And Then It Started Snowing
The surf would have been impressive enough on its own.
But this was December in Long Island.
Snow was falling as the swell peaked, and visibility along the beach was constantly changing. Surfline’s morning report summed up the scene perfectly: “It’s big. It’s snowing. It’s New York.”
The National Weather Service recorded 3 inches of snow in Lido Beach during the storm.
For me, that was part of what made being there with a camera so interesting. I wasn’t just filming big waves. I was filming surfers in the middle of an actual winter storm, with snow coming down around them and the Atlantic exploding in the background.
It Was Really, Really Cold
The temperature made the whole thing even more surreal.
Surfline reports from that morning put the air temperature around 29°F early in the day, with one later report putting the temperature at approximately 25°F with the wind chill. The ocean was considerably warmer, around 50°F.
That temperature difference is hard to appreciate until you’re actually standing on the beach.
The surfers were dealing with freezing air, snow, strong winds and powerful currents while wearing thick winter wetsuits, boots and gloves. One Surfline report noted a surfer using a 5/4mm wetsuit, 5mm boots and 2mm gloves just to deal with the conditions.
I was standing on the beach with a camera.
They were paddling into 20-foot swell.
Different jobs.
Surfline Was Watching Lido Beach
Surfline had been tracking Gail for days before it arrived. Their forecast discussion specifically called Long Island the standout region for surf, while also warning that the combination of heavy snow and large surf would make getting to the beach difficult.
Once the storm arrived, their cameras were documenting the conditions in real time.
By sunrise on December 17, Surfline was reporting huge, disorganized surf along Long Island. The current was strong, visibility was limited by the snow, and even experienced surfers were questioning whether some spots were simply too big.
New York surfer Balaram Stack reportedly called the conditions “too big,” while Montauk surfer Nick Joeckel described the surf as big, ugly and sideways.
And yet, surfers were still out there.
Surfline’s Lido Beach camera even showed jet skis in the water, presumably being used to help surfers deal with the size and currents.
The Swell Didn’t Disappear After One Day
One of the interesting things about Gail was that the surf wasn’t simply a one-day event.
Surfline’s forecast called for a prolonged run of waves along the East Coast as the storm moved offshore and later interacted with another area of high pressure. The main peak hit Long Island on December 17, but the swell continued to produce waves for days afterward, with Surfline specifically noting that the exiting storm would keep the Northeast in waves through the weekend.
So while December 17 was the big day, Gail had a much longer footprint in the surf forecast.
Behind the Camera in Lido Beach
For me, the story wasn’t just the storm.
It was the surfers who decided that, despite everything going on around them, they were going surfing.
I was there in Lido Beach filming them as they dealt with the conditions. Snow was coming down, the wind was howling, and the waves were absolutely firing.
There are plenty of days when you show up at the beach with a camera and hope something happens.
This wasn’t one of those days.
The storm had already done the hard work.
The ocean was enormous. The beach was covered in snow. The temperature was hovering around freezing. And every time a surfer disappeared behind a wall of whitewater, there was another frame waiting to happen.
It was cold, wet and brutal.
It was also one of the most memorable winter surf days I’ve ever filmed.
Looking Back at Winter Storm Gail
For most people, Winter Storm Gail was a December snowstorm.
For Long Island surfers, it was something completely different.
A storm generated a 20-foot, 10-second swell offshore. Seas reached roughly 20–25 feet. Winds approached 50 knots. Snow fell across the beach. Lido Beach recorded about 3 inches of snow, and temperatures were down in the 20s.
And in the middle of all of it, surfers paddled out.
I was there with my camera to document it.
Snow falling from the sky.
20-foot swell showing on the buoy.
Freezing air.
50-degree water.
And surfers in the lineup.
That’s Winter Storm Gail in Lido Beach, December 17, 2020.
Then Action Bronson Showed Up
As if snow, freezing temperatures and a massive winter swell weren’t enough, there was another unexpected part of the day: Action Bronson showed up to go boogieboarding.
Action was coming down to meet up with us, and with the waves pumping, it didn’t take long before he was heading toward the water with a boogie board.
I was already out there filming the surfers, so naturally, I started filming Action too.
It was a pretty surreal scene. Snow was falling, the temperature was down in the 20s, the wind was howling, and the ocean was getting absolutely hammered by the swell. And right in the middle of it all, Action was out there riding a boogie board.
It wasn’t planned. It wasn’t a production. It was just one of those completely random moments that happens when you spend enough time around the beach and the people who are always drawn to the water.
I went down to Lido Beach to film surfers during a major winter storm and ended up documenting Action Bronson boogieboarding in the snow.
Honestly, it was pretty perfect.
