Surf Forecasts:
Croatan surf forecast from 10 Sep 2026:
- Best quality surf: Sunday 13 Sep, 2AM (local time) - 2.5ft (0.8m), 5s period, ESE swell with cross-offshore winds.
- Most powerful swell: Thursday 10 Sep, 11PM (local time) - 4ft (1.2m), 5s period, S swell with 85 kJ wave energy.
- Next surfable swell (1★+): Sunday 13 Sep, 2AM (local time) - 2.5ft (0.8m), 5s period with ESE swell.
Best Forecast Surf Conditions for Croatan this week:
The surf forecast for Croatan over the next 16 days: The first swell (rated 1 star or higher) is forecast to arrive on Sunday (Sep 13) at 2AM. The primary swell is predicted to be 0.8m and 5s period with a secondary swell of 0.4m and 10s. Another secondary swell of 0.1m and 9s is also forecast. The wind is predicted to be cross-offshore as the swell arrives.
The most powerful waves expected at Croatan in the next 16 days are 1.2m 5s and forecast to arrive on Thursday (Sep 10) at 11PM. Winds are predicted to be cross-offshore at the time the swell arrives. The largest open ocean swell (not directed at the beach) is 1.0m 4s period and expected on Thursday (Sep 10) at 5AM.
| Wave Type | Time (EDT) & Date | Wave Height & Period |
|---|---|---|
| Next good surf (1 star+) | 2AM (Sun 13th Sep) | 2.5ft (0.8m) 5s |
| Best Surf | 2AM (Sun 13th Sep) | 2.5ft (0.8m) 5s |
| Most Powerful | 11PM (Thu 10th Sep) | 4ft (1.2m) 5s |
Table - best surf conditions forecast for Croatan over the next 16 days.
The Lowdown
Right folks, Rusty here. Let’s be straight with you – the next couple of weeks for the Croatan (Virginia) stretch aren't looking like anything to write home about. We’ve got a long, flat spell ahead before things get a bit interesting, but even then it’s not going to be a classic.
We're in a slow patch right now. From Thursday the 10th right through until Monday the 21st of September, it's pretty much a write-off. The swell is tiny, wind is mostly onshore or cross-onshore, and the wave energy is weak – we're seeing numbers as low as 0.7 ft up to just 3 ft for the combined energy. That’s barely a ripple. There’s a tiny window on Sunday morning the 13th where we get a light offshore breeze out of the WSW and a little 1 ft ESE swell, but the combined energy is only 2 ft and the score is still a 1 out of 10. Surfable, sure, but you'd be scratching for something rideable.
The scene stays flat and messy. Wednesday the 16th morning gives us some glassy conditions with a 1.0 ft ESE swell (combined energy only 1 ft), but that’s about it for the whole first week and a half. The water temperature is about average for the time of year, nothing unusual.
Then, around Tuesday the 22nd of September, things start to kick up. We get a surge of easterly swell. The combined energy jumps dramatically to 19 ft on the Tuesday morning, building to 26 ft Tuesday afternoon, and then 31 ft by Thursday the 24th. That’s a lot of energy.
The problem? It’s going to be a complete mess. The wind is strong onshore from the ENE to NE, and there’s heavy rain and storms in the mix. The swell height gets up to around 5 ft - 6 ft, which is borderline for beginners but not huge, but it’s onshore, lumpy, and messy. The period is around 8 to 10 seconds, so it’s a short-period windswell with poor shape. Honestly, with that kind of strong wind and lumpy conditions, this setup at Croatan looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing.
In short, we’ve got a long drought of near-flat conditions for the first 12 days, followed by a surge of messy, onshore, wind-affected swell that won't deliver clean waves. There are no true standouts in this 16-day window. It’s a grim outlook.
Rusty.
Short Range ForecastLight rain (total 7mm), mostly falling on Sat morning. Warm (max 33°C on Thu afternoon, min 22°C on Wed night). Wind will be generally light. | Days 5-7 Weather SummaryLight rain (total 8mm), mostly falling on Sun afternoon. Warm (max 29°C on Sun afternoon, min 24°C on Sun morning). Wind will be generally light. | ||||||||||||||||||
Thursday 10 | Friday 11 | Saturday 12 | Sunday 13 | Monday 14 | Tuesday 15 | ||||||||||||||
Night | AM | PM | Night | AM | PM | Night | AM | PM | Night | AM | PM | Night | AM | PM | Night | AM | PM | Night | |
Swell Height Map |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | ||||||||||||
Wave Height (m) Direction Period (s) | SE 5 | SE 7 | S 4 | SSE 5 | SE 8 | SE 8 | E 3 | SE 4 | SE 9 | SE 10 | ESE 10 | ESE 9 | SE 9 | ESE 9 | ESE 9 | ESE 9 | ESE 8 | ESE 8 | ESE 9 |
Wave Graph  | |||||||||||||||||||
 kJ | 15 | 8 | 19 | 37 | 17 | 17 | 7 | 19 | 21 | 29 | 36 | 33 | 40 | 31 | 31 | 25 | 24 | 21 | 16 |
Wind (km/h) | |||||||||||||||||||
Wind State on-shore cross-onshore cross-shore cross-offshore off-shore glassy | cross-off | cross-off | cross-off | cross-off | cross-on | on | on | cross-on | cross-on | cross-off | off | on | cross-on | cross-on | cross-on | on | on | cross-on | cross |
High Tide | 7:35AM1.22m | 7:56PM1.25m | 8:22AM1.28m | 8:39PM1.21m | 9:07AM1.30m | 9:21PM1.16m | 9:51AM1.29m | 10:02PM1.09m | 10:33AM1.25m | 10:43PM1.02m | 11:15AM1.20m | 11:24PM0.95m | |||||||
Low Tide | 1:28AM0.01m | 1:44PM-0.02m | 2:11AM-0.02m | 2:33PM-0.01m | 2:51AM-0.02m | 3:18PM0.03m | 3:30AM0.00m | 4:03PM0.08m | 4:09AM0.05m | 4:48PM0.15m | 4:49AM0.12m | 5:35PM0.22m | |||||||
 |  |  | | | |  |  | | | | |  | | | | | | | |
 | — | 6:41 | — | — | 6:41 | — | — | 6:43 | — | — | 6:43 | — | — | 6:43 | — | — | 6:45 | — | — |
 | 7:21 | — | 7:19 | — | — | 7:17 | — | — | 7:15 | — | — | 7:15 | — | — | 7:13 | — | — | 7:12 | — |
mm | — | — | — | — | — | — | 3 | 4 | — | 2 | — | 4 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Temp °C | 25 | 28 | 33 | 31 | 25 | 26 | 25 | 27 | 28 | 27 | 27 | 29 | 28 | 27 | 27 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 26 |
Feels °C | 23 | 26 | 33 | 29 | 27 | 28 | 27 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 30 | 32 | 31 | 29 | 28 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 30 |
Swell 1 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | SE 5 | SE 7 | ESE 9 | SSE 5 | SE 8 | SE 8 | NE 5 | ENE 5 | ENE 5 | SE 10 | E 5 | ESE 9 | SE 9 | ESE 9 | ESE 9 | ESE 9 | ESE 8 | ESE 8 | ESE 9 |
| kJ | 15 | 7 | 8 | 37 | 17 | 17 | 1 | 15 | 14 | 23 | 12 | 33 | 40 | 31 | 31 | 25 | 24 | 21 | 16 |
Swell 2 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | ESE 9 | ESE 9 | SE 6 | ESE 8 | SSE 5 | E 8 | E 11 | — | SE 9 | E 9 | ESE 10 | E 8 | E 5 | E 4 | E 4 | E 4 | E 15 | E 9 | E 14 |
| kJ | 8 | 8 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 2 | — | 21 | 1 | 36 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 4 |
Swell 3 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | ENE 9 | NE 9 | NE 9 | E 8 | — | — | E 8 | — | — | E 8 | E 8 | E 8 | — | — | — | E 15 | E 15 | E 15 | — |
| kJ | 8 | 3 | 3 | 1 | — | — | 1 | — | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | — | — | — | 4 | 4 | 4 | — |
Wind waves Height (m) Direction Period (s) | SSW 4 | SW 4 | S 4 | WSW 4 | W 3 | — | E 3 | SE 4 | SE 4 | ESE 5 | — | ESE 5 | — | NE 3 | ENE 3 | E 3 | — | — | S 4 |
| kJ | 26 | 15 | 19 | 9 | 1 | — | 7 | 19 | 21 | 29 | — | 14 | — | 1 | 2 | 2 | — | — | 10 |
Nearest Offshore or Glassy | |||||||||||||||||||
Distance (km) | 1258 | 204 | 197 | 0 | 138 | 138 | 138 | 1137 | 1137 | 0 | 0 | 137 | 95 | 242 | 526 | 242 | 2097 | 1141 | 1138 |
Best forecast wave conditions in Virginia | |||||||||||||||||||
Best forecast wave conditions in United States | |||||||||||||||||||
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The surf report / weather widget below is available to embed on third party websites free of charge and provides a summary of our Croatan surf forecast. Simply grab the html code snippet that we provide and paste it into your own site. You can choose your preferred language and metric/imperial units for the surf forecast feed to suit users of your site. Click here to get the code.
Information about the Croatan Surf forecast
The above surf forecast table for Croatan provides essential information for determining whether the surfing conditions will be good over the next 16 days. A general guide to surfing at Croatan can be found by selecting the local surf guide option on the grey menu. Our Croatan surf forecast is unique since it includes wave energy (power) that defines the real feel of the surf rather than just the height or the period. If you surf the same spot (Croatan) regularly then make a mental note of the wave energy from the surf forecast table each time you go. Very soon you may start to choose your surf days based on the wave energy alone combined with our forecast of favourable offshore wind conditions. Our star ratings will help here and of course you will also find the usual wave height and period predictions on our surf forecasts as well as a full break down of the swell components under our advanced users option (to reveal that, click the little Einstein character under the tide times).
Further information to help with frequently asked questions about our surf forecast for Croatan may be found under the help tab on the top menu and also by moving your mouse over the question marks on the surf forecast table itself. Please always bear in mind that the forecast is for near-shore open water and local factors at each surf break influence the actual breaking wave height, such as the beach / reef profile, water depths offshore and shelter.
Croatan is 7 km (4 miles) from the city of Virginia Beach. If you plan a vacation in Virginia, look for hotels and other accommodation in Virginia Beach. Virginia Beach has rooms for a wide range of budgets as well as car hire and transport links.
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