Bay Head Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Gotta be straight with you – this is a tough one for the Jersey Shore. The next couple of weeks look pretty bleak for Bay Head. We've got a lot of days with poor surf conditions and not much to get excited about. Let's break it down.

The water is running a touch warmer than usual for this time of year, about 78°, which is a solid 5° above average. That's notable, but it doesn't mean much when the waves are flat.

We start off with a real dud. Thursday the 20th, we've got tiny, weak waves around 1ft to 1ft from the southeast. The swell energy is a measly 23 and the period is short. It's just not enough to do anything with. That sets the tone for the next few days. We're looking at a long stretch of marginal surf. Friday the 21st through Sunday the 22nd, the wind is all over the place – onshore, cross-onshore – and the swell is small and weak, mostly from the east-northeast. The combined energy barely cracks 60. It's messy.

There's a brief flicker of hope on Saturday afternoon the 22nd. The wind swings cross-offshore and the conditions clean up. The swell is still tiny, just 3ft from the east-northeast, but the wave comment says "surfable waves but very ordinary conditions." It's not a standout, but it's the best of a bad bunch. The water temp is still that warm 78°.

Sunday the 23rd through the end of the month, it's more of the same. We get some clean, offshore winds on Sunday and Monday the 24th, but the swell is small. On Sunday morning, we have a 0.7ft swell with a 13-second period, which is a long-period groundswell, but the energy is only 41. It's just too small to hold that period. The swell direction is southeast, which is the optimum direction for Bay Head, so it's a tease. The wind is offshore and clean, but the size just isn't there.

The rest of the period into early September is a real struggle. The wind is mostly onshore or cross-onshore, and the swell stays small, rarely pushing above 3ft. The combined energy figures are mostly in the 20s to 70s, which is weak. Even when the wind goes offshore again on the 3rd and 4th of September, the swell is a pathetic 1ft to 2ft with very low energy. It's a classic case of small windswell being all we have.

Honestly, there's no standout session in this entire 16-day window. The best you can hope for is a knee-high, clean wave on Sunday morning the 23rd or Monday morning the 24th, but even that's a stretch. This is a long, dry spell for Bay Head, and it's a normal part of the late summer pattern. The forecasts can change, but right now, I'd leave the board in the car and maybe find something else to do.

Rusty.

Read more