Empty Lots Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s be straight with you – we’ve got a long stretch ahead with not much to get excited about.

Honestly, the outlook for Empty Lots is a tough one. The whole 16-day window is basically a write-off for any decent paddle surfing. The wind is locked in from the east-northeast almost every day, howling at 18 to 25 mph, and it’s always cross or cross-onshore, chewing up whatever swell is out there. The water’s sitting at 26°, which is about average for this time of year, so no surprises there.

We start off from Friday, July 10, and it’s just poor. A 5ft easterly swell with a short, weak 7-second period gets smashed by a 18 mph cross-shore wind. The combined energy is moderate at 403, but it’s all lumpy cross-chop. Saturday the 11th is similar, with a bigger 579 energy reading, but still the same messy story. That pattern just keeps going – day after day of cross-shore wind and poor conditions. There’s a moment on Sunday morning, July 12, where the swell switches to a 3ft south-west groundswell with a 16-second period, and the energy jumps to 669, but the wind is a strong 25 mph breeze. You’d need a kite to have any fun. That kind of setup with big cross-shore wind and a beach/reef break is more for the kite crew than for us.

For the next week and a half, it’s the same sad song. A few pulses of south-southwest swell roll through with periods up to 18 seconds, but the wind never lets up. The one standout, if you can call it that, is Friday, July 24. The wind finally swings to a cross-offshore from the northeast at 18 mph, and the forecast says "clean". The swell is 3ft from the south-southwest with a very long 18-second period, and the combined energy is a solid 833 (moderate to strong). That’s a good-looking groundswell direction for Empty Lots, which likes it from the SSE. The long period means it’ll wall up better at this reef, and the clean conditions would make it surfable. It’s still described as "marginal" though, and it’s 14 days away, so keep your hopes in check. On Saturday the 25th, the swell holds at 4ft from the same direction with 16-second periods, and the energy hits 902, but the wind swings back to a cross-shore and it gets lumpy again.

So, here’s the deal: you’ve got a solid 13-day gap of no-good surf until the 24th rolls around. That Friday the 24th is your best bet, but it’s a long-range call and not a sure thing. The rest of the time, the ocean is blown out. Don’t hold your breath.

Rusty.

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