Emma Wood State Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s get real about what’s on offer for the next couple of weeks around Emma Wood State Beach. To be honest, the surf forecast is looking pretty bleak for a while, but don’t throw your wetsuit in the trash just yet.

Right off the bat, we’ve got a long stretch of nothing special. From Sunday the 23rd of August all the way through to the first week of September, the waves are tiny and the wind is just not playing ball. Most days you’re looking at waves around 1 ft to 2 ft, with a constant cross-on or onshore breeze from the WSW or SW. The swell energy is weak, sitting around 130 to 390 (combined energy range), but the quality is shot. Even when the swell ticks up a bit around the 26th to the 30th, the period is short or the wind is messy, so it’s just not worth paddling out. It’s a proper run of flat, choppy, or poor surf conditions through to early September.

Things start to shift on Saturday the 5th of September. That morning, the stars nearly align. We get a clean, glassy morning with the wind barely a whisper from the WNW at just 3 mph – that’s as good as it gets for clean conditions here. The swell is 2 ft from the SSW, with a 16-second period, giving it some real groundswell punch. The combined energy is 394 – moderate to strong – and the wave comment finally sounds like something we can work with. That morning session would be your only real standout of the whole forecast: clean little lines, long period, and a decent push for a beach and reef setup. It’s not huge, but for this stretch, that’s the one to chase. Expect crowds to be likely, as it’s a break that often gets a few heads.

The rest of that weekend and into the start of September stays marginal, with similar small swell and messy wind returning. The water temperature is about 70°, which is a solid 7° warmer than normal for this time of year – that’s very unusual, so you can ditch the thick rubber and enjoy a warm, long session if you get out on that glassy morning.

So, bottom line: most of this 16-day window is a write-off for decent waves. The one morning that stands out is Saturday the 5th of September, and even then it’s small and clean, not a big swell day. Keep an eye on the forecasts – sometimes these flat spells break quicker than we think.

– Rusty

Read more