Empty Lots Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let's have a look at what Empty Lots is doing for us.

Honestly, for the next sixteen days, Empty Lots is looking like a tough ticket. We’ve got a real dry spell coming up with heaps of wind and messy conditions. It’s going to be a while before things clean up.

The opening action on Wednesday the 29th of July is about as good as it gets in the whole run, and even then it’s a mixed bag. The morning has a bit of 5ft swell from the ENE, but the wind is cross-onshore from the SSW, grumbling along at 3 mph. It’s marginal. The afternoon glass off is the real highlight though. The wind drops to glassy, we get a cleaner 3ft from the S with a lovely long 14-second period. That’s proper groundswell ripping into a reef setup, so expect some good lines. The water temp is 80° and the anomaly is 0.5°, so it's bang on average for this time of year. The wave energy sits at (543) which is moderate and very surfable. If you only have one window, this is it. But keep in mind, Empty Lots can see crowds sometimes.

After that, it all turns to rubbish pretty quickly. Thursday the 30th and Friday the 31st of July are a no-go. The wind cranks up from the ENE, hitting 19 to 22 mph with nasty cross and cross-onshore chop. The swell is a mix of short-period junk from the E, dropping to 2ft - 3ft. It’s poor surf.

Then we hit a real gnarly patch from Saturday the 1st of August right through to the end of the first week and into the second. Pulling into Saturday, we’ve got 8ft to 8ft of messy E swell at 8 seconds, but it's being hammered by 25 to 28 mph cross-shore winds. The energy is high (1130 to 1146) but it’s all just vertical wind-slapped walls. This is not a paddle situation; with that much wind and that short a period, it’s going to be a kite-fest out there.

The grovel continues through Sunday the 2nd, Monday the 3rd, with strong cross-winds and lumpy, poor conditions. There’s a faint glimmer on Tuesday the 4th of August. The afternoon looks to glass off again with the wind going to S at 3 mph, and we get a 4ft swell from the ENE at 11 seconds. Energy is (452). It says "expect good surf conditions", so it'll be a clean session, but that swell is on the small side. Wednesday the 5th of August morning is also glassy with a 3ft swell from the ENE but at a shorter 9-second period, so it’s a little more localised and weaker (286).

From Thursday the 6th of August onward, it’s a long, bleak run. We’ve got a steady diet of 16 to 22 mph cross-shore winds from the ENE and E. The height varies from a tiny 1ft up to 4ft, but it’s all poor quality with lumpy cross-chop. The swell direction starts swinging more S to SSW, giving us some longer periods (14-18 seconds) later on, which suggests proper groundswell energy (hitting up to 767 on the 10th of August), but the wind just completely trashes the surface. It’s a brutal stretch all the way through to Thursday the 13th of August.

So, the bottom line: if you’re looking for a wave, your best bet is the glassy afternoon of Wednesday the 29th of July. After that, you’re waiting for a very small window on Tuesday the 4th of August afternoon or Wednesday the 5th of August morning. The rest of the run is just wind and chop.

Rusty.

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