56th St Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here with a look at the 16-day forecast for 56th St. It’s been a rough run lately, and honestly, this stretch looks pretty grim. We’ve got a solid two and a half weeks ahead without a single standout session. The first real chance for a wave doesn’t show up until Wednesday the 9th of September, which is a long, dry spell.

Let’s start with what we’ve got. The water temp is sitting at a balmy 73°F and that’s a massive 6°F warmer than normal, so we’re swimming in bathwater that’s just not doing us any favours for surf.

From Tuesday afternoon the 25th of August right through to the end of the first week, it’s a whole lot of nothing. We see small swells around 2ft to 4ft, mostly from the south, but the wind is almost always cross-onshore. Tuesday the 25th has a tiny 2ft south swell (345 combined energy), and it’s small and weak, with poor conditions. Wednesday the 26th morning bumps up to 4ft from the south with a moderate 717 energy reading, but again, the wind is on it and the reports are marginal at best. It’s that same story day after day: clean skies but a light to gentle cross-onshore breeze that’s just ruining any shape the little swell might have. There are a couple of mornings with the wind straight onshore, which isn’t any better.

A few days in the second week, around the 1st to 4th of September, we’re still stuck in the same pattern. Swell heights stick around the 3ft to 3ft mark, but the wind is *always* cross-onshore. It’s just not worth paddling out for that mess of ripples and weak energy. The combined energy values rarely get above 500, so the ocean is flat and uninviting.

Then we finally get a pulse. On Wednesday the 9th of September in the morning, we see a south-southeast swell of 4ft with a period of 14 seconds, and the combined energy jumps right up to a solid 1124. That’s a proper groundswell, and if the wind stayed offshore we’d be in business. But it doesn’t. The wind is still light cross-onshore, so the face will be bumpy. By the afternoon, the swell builds to 5ft from the south with 16-second period and a chunky 1821 energy reading, but the wind picks up to a moderate cross-onshore, making it choppy and messy. The report says poor surf conditions all day.

So, the honest truth? There’s nothing here to get excited about. 56th St is a sheltered spot, and while it’s very consistent for a wave, the quality is just missing for the entire 16 days. That one pulse on the 9th of September is a tease of bigger energy, but the wind ruins it. It’s a kite-surfing setup on that day if anything, not a clean paddle wave. The forecast can always change, but as it stands, I’d leave the board in the car and go find something else to do for a couple weeks.

Rusty.

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