Folly Beach Pier Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, this is Rusty, and I gotta be straight with you — the surf outlook for the next couple of weeks around Folly Beach Pier is pretty grim. We’re looking at a long stretch of tiny, weak waves, and most of the time the wind is just messing things up. The combined energy of all swells here is barely registering, mostly in the teens or fifties (55 energy), which is weak. The water is sitting at 86° — that’s a touch warmer than normal for this time of year, so at least the swim is nice.

Let’s start from Thursday, July 9th. The swell is a weak 3 ft from the south, with a short period of 5 seconds, and a cross-onshore wind at 19 mph. It’s lumpy and messy. Honestly, not worth paddling out.

Friday the 10th is even smaller — 1 ft in the morning, then a tiny pulse of 4 ft in the afternoon, but both periods are short (5-8 seconds) and the wind is cross or cross-on. The energy is low (18-76). Poor surf all around.

Saturday the 11th and Sunday the 12th are the same story: tiny waves (1.0 ft to 3 ft), short periods, and cross-onshore winds in the afternoon. The mornings are clean but the swell is basically flat. Not enough to get excited about.

Monday the 13th through Wednesday the 15th bring some glassy or offshore moments, especially Tuesday morning the 14th with glassy conditions and a tiny 2 ft swell from the ENE, but the energy is still weak (37). Wednesday morning the 15th has a gentle offshore wind and a 1 ft swell from the southeast with a period of 9 seconds, so it’s clean, but again, it’s tiny.

The best of a bad bunch might be Tuesday morning, July 14th. The wind is glassy, the swell is 2 ft from the ENE, and the period is 6 seconds. It’s small, but with no wind chop, a longboard might catch a few soft ones. The energy is only 37, so it’s weak. Don’t expect much.

From the 16th onward, it’s the same pattern: tiny swell (mostly 1 ft to 3 ft), short periods (4-6 seconds), and cross-onshore or cross winds. There’s a morning on the 19th with a clean 3 ft from the SSW (40 energy), but again, small and weak. The rest of the window into late July is just a series of poor surf conditions with risk of thunderstorms. By the 24th, we’re looking at 2 ft-2 ft with choppy, onshore winds.

Bottom line: this is a blank run. No standout days, no real swell. For a beach break like Folly Beach Pier, which is inconsistent anyway, this is pretty normal for the area. The only thing worth mentioning is that run of glassy or offshore mornings around the 14th and 15th, but the swell is just too small to call it good. If you’re desperate, bring a longboard and hope for a knee-high roller. Otherwise, keep the board in the car and check the forecast next week.

Stay loose,
Rusty

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