Folly Beach Pier Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, this is Rusty, and I gotta be straight with you. The outlook for the next couple of weeks at Folly Beach Pier is about as bleak as I've seen it in a while. We're looking at a long, painful stretch of tiny, weak, and messy surf. This isn't a case of "wait a few days"; we're talking day after day of conditions that just won't deliver for a paddle surfer.

Let's start with the immediate. Tuesday afternoon, July 28th, is a write-off. There's a tiny 2ft swell from the SSW, but with a period of only 4 seconds, it's just wind chop. Cross-onshore wind from the SSW at 15 mph is making a mess of it, and the combined wave energy is a weak 22. The water is a warm 86°F, which is much warmer than normal for this time of year by over three and a half degrees, but that's about the only positive.

Wednesday and Thursday aren't any better. We're looking at swells barely registering 0.3ft to 0.7ft. The wind does go light and cross-offshore on Wednesday morning and Thursday morning, which would make the surface glassy, but there's just no swell to work with. The energy is in the single digits.

Friday, July 31st, through the start of August is more of the same – onshore winds and ankle-biters. We get a tiny pulse on Saturday, August 1st, with 2ft swell, but it's from the SSE with a 4-second period, onshore wind, and a risk of thunderstorms. The energy is only 22. That's not surf, that's a washing machine.

The first week of August drags on with the same story. Mornings might see some clean conditions with cross-offshore winds (like on the 4th, 5th, and 6th), but the swell remains tiny—1ft to 2ft—and the period is short. The afternoon sea breeze kicks in every day, ruining anything that might have been.

We finally see a bit of hope on the far horizon. The Monday morning of August 10th gets a glassy period with wind from the West at only 3 mph. There's a 2ft swell from the SE, but again, it's a short 4-second period, so the energy is only 15. It'll be clean, but don't expect much push.

The best chance we get in the whole 16-day run is the morning of Wednesday, August 12th. We have a cross-offshore wind from the WSW at 12 mph, which will clean up the 3ft swell from the SSW. The period is still a short 5 seconds, but the combined energy jumps to 43, the highest we see. For this stretch, that's the standout. It's still not great, but it's the cleanest, most energetic window we have. Crowds are sometimes an issue here, but for a 3ft wave, they probably won't be too bad.

Overall, the setup is so weak and choppy for the vast majority of the time that the beach break is looking far more interesting for kite surfing than for paddle surfing. There's just no decent swell to work with. It's a tough run for Folly, but that's the way it goes sometimes. Forecasts can change, but right now, this is what we've got.

- Rusty

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