Surf Forecasts:
Donuts surf forecast from 7 Sep 2026:
- Best quality surf: Thursday 10 Sep, 8AM (local time) - 3ft (0.9m), 16s period, SW swell with glassy winds.
- Most powerful swell: Sunday 6 Sep, 11PM (local time) - 5.5ft (1.7m), 14s period, SSW swell with 1,189 kJ wave energy.
- Next surfable swell (1★+): Wednesday 9 Sep, 11AM (local time) - 2ft (0.6m), 16s period with SW swell.
Best Forecast Surf Conditions for Donuts this week:
The surf forecast for Donuts over the next 16 days: The first swell (rated 1 star or higher) is forecast to arrive on Wednesday (Sep 09) at 11AM. The primary swell is predicted to be 0.6m and 16s period with a secondary swell of 0.8m and 9s. The wind is predicted to be glassy as the swell arrives.
The most powerful waves expected at Donuts in the next 16 days are 1.7m 14s and forecast to arrive on Sunday (Sep 06) at 11PM. Winds are predicted to be cross-onshore at the time the swell arrives.
| Wave Type | Time (PDT) & Date | Wave Height & Period |
|---|---|---|
| Next good surf (1 star+) | 11AM (Wed 9th Sep) | 2ft (0.6m) 16s |
| Best Surf | 8AM (Thu 10th Sep) | 3ft (0.9m) 16s |
| Most Powerful | 11PM (Sun 6th Sep) | 5.5ft (1.7m) 14s |
Table - best surf conditions forecast for Donuts over the next 16 days.
The Lowdown
Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s coming down the pipe for the next couple of weeks.
Well, I gotta be straight with you – this stretch is a tough one. We’re looking at a long, long gap of poor conditions before we see anything even close to rideable. The whole opening run is a write-off. From Sunday the 6th through to Tuesday the 15th of September, it’s just a mess of lumpy cross-shore chop and onshore bump. The swell is there, but it’s all wrong. The wind is just killing it. Don’t even bother looking at it until we get to the back half of the second week.
We finally get a tiny window of hope on Wednesday morning, September 16th. The wind at Donuts (a sheltered reef break) goes glassy, and the swell is a long-period 2ft groundswell from the SW. The energy is weak (399), but the main thing is that glass – it’s gonna be clean. The water is running at 71°, which is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year, so that’s a nice bonus. The issue is this is a long-period swell (16 seconds), which at a reef setup like Donuts should actually wrap in nicely, but the size is tiny. It’s marginal, but it’s the best we’ve got in the whole outlook. This is the only real standout, and it’s a small one.
The Thursday morning (17th) brings a bit more size with a 3ft SW groundswell (period 16s) and light cross-onshore wind, but it’s still not clean. The conditions are improving slowly, but the quality is still very ordinary. The rest of the week and into the 21st is a mix of onshore and cross-onshore winds with clean-ish windows but very poor surf quality. The energy increases a bit, with the combined swell energy hitting 687 on the 21st of September, but it’s still accompanied by a messy cross-onshore breeze.
So, the honest truth? If you’re desperate for a wave, the morning of Wednesday the 16th is your only real shot. It’s tiny, but it’ll be clean. For the rest of the 16-day window, you’re better off taking the dog for a walk. The consistency is just not there.
Rusty.
Short Range ForecastLight rain (total 3mm), mostly falling on Sun afternoon. Warm (max 28°C on Sun afternoon, min 23°C on Sun night). Winds decreasing (fresh winds from the NNW on Sun afternoon, calm by Wed morning). | Days 5-7 Weather SummaryLight rain (total 8mm), mostly falling on Wed afternoon. Warm (max 24°C on Wed afternoon, min 20°C on Sat morning). Wind will be generally light. | |||||||||||||||||||
Sun 6 | Monday 7 | Tuesday 8 | Wednesday 9 | Thursday 10 | Friday 11 | Saturday 12 | ||||||||||||||
PM | 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) | SSW 13 | SSW 14 | SSW 12 | SSW 12 | SSW 11 | SW 13 | SSW 10 | SSW 10 | SW 16 | SW 16 | SW 17 | SW 16 | SW 16 | SW 16 | SW 15 | SW 15 | SW 15 | SW 14 | SW 14 | SW 14 |
Wave Graph  | ||||||||||||||||||||
 kJ | 965 | 1189 | 885 | 797 | 379 | 216 | 208 | 161 | 214 | 267 | 342 | 443 | 416 | 406 | 390 | 305 | 255 | 248 | 208 | 155 |
Wind (km/h) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Wind State on-shore cross-onshore cross-shore cross-offshore off-shore glassy | cross | cross | cross-on | cross-on | cross-on | cross-on | cross-on | cross-on | glassy | cross-on | on | cross-on | cross-on | cross-on | cross | cross | cross | cross | cross-on | cross |
High Tide | 6:02PM1.74m | 7:57AM1.26m | 7:00PM1.85m | 8:25AM1.38m | 7:49PM1.91m | 8:53AM1.49m | 8:34PM1.91m | 9:23AM1.59m | 9:16PM1.83m | 9:52AM1.66m | 9:56PM1.71m | 10:21AM1.70m | 10:37PM1.55m | |||||||
Low Tide | 1:34AM-0.13m | 1:03PM0.67m | 2:13AM-0.19m | 1:52PM0.49m | 2:48AM-0.20m | 2:37PM0.34m | 3:20AM-0.15m | 3:19PM0.23m | 3:49AM-0.05m | 4:01PM0.16m | 4:17AM0.08m | 4:42PM0.14m | 4:42AM0.24m | |||||||
 |  |  |  | | | |  | |  |  | | | | | | | | | | |
 | — | — | 6:26 | — | — | 6:26 | — | — | 6:28 | — | — | 6:28 | — | — | 6:28 | — | — | 6:30 | — | — |
 | 7:07 | — | — | 7:06 | — | — | 7:04 | — | — | 7:02 | — | — | 7:01 | — | — | 7:00 | — | — | 6:59 | — |
mm | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 2 | 5 | 3 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Temp °C | 28 | 28 | 25 | 24 | 24 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 23 | 23 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 21 | 20 | 21 | 20 |
Feels °C | 25 | 26 | 25 | 23 | 23 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 25 | 25 | 26 | 25 | 23 | 24 | 22 | 21 | 21 | 20 | 21 | 21 |
Swell 1 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | SSW 13 | SSW 14 | SSW 12 | SSW 12 | SSW 11 | SSW 10 | SSW 10 | SSW 10 | SSW 9 | SW 16 | SW 17 | SW 16 | SW 16 | SW 16 | WNW 7 | SW 15 | W 6 | W 7 | W 6 | W 7 |
| kJ | 965 | 1189 | 885 | 797 | 379 | 216 | 208 | 161 | 103 | 267 | 342 | 443 | 416 | 406 | 86 | 305 | 48 | 70 | 48 | 42 |
Swell 2 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | S 12 | W 12 | WSW 20 | NW 11 | SW 14 | SW 13 | SSW 13 | SSW 13 | SW 16 | SW 9 | SW 8 | SW 8 | W 6 | W 6 | SW 15 | W 7 | SW 15 | SW 14 | SW 14 | SW 14 |
| kJ | 547 | 3 | 37 | 5 | 200 | 208 | 118 | 114 | 214 | 77 | 54 | 42 | 16 | 51 | 390 | 61 | 255 | 248 | 208 | 155 |
Swell 3 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | SW 11 | NW 12 | W 11 | SW 9 | WNW 4 | SW 18 | SW 18 | SW 16 | SW 13 | SW 12 | SSW 12 | W 5 | SW 8 | SW 7 | SW 7 | SW 6 | S 9 | S 9 | S 9 | S 9 |
| kJ | 31 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 112 | 111 | 130 | 82 | 72 | 56 | 15 | 21 | 14 | 12 | 14 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 6 |
Wind waves Height (m) Direction Period (s) | NW 4 | NW 4 | WNW 4 | WNW 4 | — | WNW 4 | WNW 5 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| kJ | 26 | 21 | 12 | 10 | — | 6 | 10 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Nearest Offshore or Glassy | ||||||||||||||||||||
Distance (km) | 50 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 21 | 23 | 48 | 21 | 48 | 309 | 21 |
Best forecast wave conditions in San Diego County | ||||||||||||||||||||
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 Donuts 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 Donuts Surf forecast
The above surf forecast table for Donuts provides essential information for determining whether the surfing conditions will be good over the next 16 days. A general guide to surfing at Donuts can be found by selecting the local surf guide option on the grey menu. Our Donuts 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 (Donuts) 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 Donuts 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.
Donuts is 6 km (4 miles) from the city of Coronado. If you plan a vacation in San Diego County, look for hotels and other accommodation in Coronado. Coronado has rooms for a wide range of budgets as well as car hire and transport links.
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