Weekend northeast wind: an amber window from Monday 19 October

The table shows, for each stretch of coast, the strongest wind over the weekend, the highest wave and the highest amber index on Monday. The wind is similar along the whole coast, strongest off Karlshagen, Koserow and Göhren. The highest waves arrive off Göhren; on Usedom they reach 1.2–1.5 m.

Strong wind and high waves set material moving, but the sea lays it down on the beach mainly once the wind eases and the waves drop. That happens overnight into Monday: the wind veers east and weakens. In Binz, Heringsdorf–Ückeritz and Koserow–Zinnowitz the index reaches about 50 by 2–3 a.m., at Göhren–Baabe and Karlshagen by the morning.

The wind direction fits too. For Rügen’s east coast and for Usedom, a northeast wind counts as favourable; for Zingst, a wind from the north. So the weekend’s northeaster hits Usedom, Binz and Göhren head-on, reaches Zingst at more of an angle, and the index there stays clearly lower, at 39.

The index holds at this level all Monday. Overnight into Tuesday 20 October it falls to around 31–36 on Usedom and in Binz, and to 17 at Zingst. The best window is therefore Monday, ideally early in the day.

Usedom: Koserow–Zinnowitz and Heringsdorf–Ückeritz sit at 49, Karlshagen at 48. On Sunday the wind blew straight onshore here, and the beaches are long and flat.

Rügen’s east coast: Binz has the highest index in the area at 50, with Göhren–Baabe at 48. The waves were highest off Göhren on Sunday.

Zingst and Prerow: index 39, marked “Low” in the app. If you’re on the Darß anyway it’s worth a try, but for a special trip Usedom or Binz is the better bet. Hiddensee sits in between at 42.

North Rügen: around Cape Arkona, Wittow and Dranske the index stays at 16–23. The weekend wind runs more along the coast there, and the cliffs aren’t a good place to search anyway.

On Saturday and especially Sunday the app shows a surf warning for Cape Arkona and North Rügen for many hours. Don’t go into the water while the waves are high, net or no net, and wait until they have clearly dropped.

On the Jasmund and Arkona cliffs there is a risk of rockfalls after storms and rain. Keep away from the foot of the cliffs.

Pieces of white phosphorus, left over from Second World War munitions, regularly wash up on Usedom. They look very like amber and can ignite by themselves as they dry. Never put finds loose in your pocket; use a container, and if in doubt leave a piece where it is. How to tell amber apart is covered in our guide how to identify amber.

Search the fresh strandline, where the seaweed, bits of wood and small dark twigs lie. Amber is only slightly heavier than water and gets dropped together with this light material. Go early, before other hunters have combed the strandline.

If you search in the evening, take a UV torch: under it amber glows bright yellow, sometimes shading into orange. Which torch works is covered in amber hunting at night with a UV torch, and the post-storm search in amber after a storm.

The index is a probability, not a guarantee. It shows how favourable the conditions are. Whether you find anything also depends on when you get there and how many people have searched before you.