Chernobyl Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Right, grab your wetties and park your arse down. Rusty here. It's a tale of two halves and patience is the name of the game this time around.

Alright, let's look at what we've got. The whole 16-day window is pretty grim, to be honest. The combined swell energy stays weak for ages, barely getting into the triple digits until way down the line.

We start off, and there's nothing doing. The swell is tiny, maxing out at 3 feet on Friday the 24th, but the wind is onshore with a gentle breeze from the east and the water is a bit colder than normal at 82.2°F for the time of year in Chernobyl. The combined energy is a weak 103, and it's described as poor surf. That pretty much sets the tone.

We get a little glimmer on Saturday the 25th morning – the swell drops to 2.3 feet but the wind goes glassy from the SSE. The wave energy is a paltry 58, but the surface is clean, described as surfable but very ordinary. It’s the closest thing to a session, but you’d be surfing for the vibe, not the power.

Then it's a long, long gap. From Saturday afternoon right through to the morning of Friday the 7th of August, we're looking at flat spells, onshore chop, tiny 0.7 feet to 1.6 feet waves with energy values bouncing between 11 and 37. There’s a morning here and there with some offshore wind but the swell is just too small to matter. It’s a tough stretch.

The only real standout, the one that might get you out of bed, is on Friday morning, the 7th of August. A jump to 2.6 feet of swell from the ESE, with a clean, light breeze from the NW. The combined energy finally hits 118, making it the most significant push of the whole forecast. It’s still not huge, and the period is short at 8 seconds, but that’s the best you’re gonna get. You’ll have likely no crowds given how rubbish the rest of the window is, which is a bonus. It’s clean and surfable. For a beginner, the 2.6 feet is fine.

For the rest of the second week, it fades back into the same pattern of tiny, weak swell and onshore winds. The morning of Saturday the 8th of August has glassy conditions on 1.3 feet, but with only 27 of energy, you’ll be doing more paddling than surfing.

Bottom line: Don't hold your breath for anything epic. Check that Friday the 7th of August morning if you're desperate for a splash.

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