Folly Beach Pier Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, this is Rusty, and I gotta be straight with you – looking at the next 16 days for Folly Beach Pier, it's a pretty grim stretch. We're starting with nothing and it's gonna be a long wait for anything worth paddling out for.

Right now, the water is sitting at 85°, which is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year. Feels like a bath, but that's about the only good news.

The first week is a total write-off. We're talking about tiny, short-period windswell – think 2 ft to 2 ft from the southeast, with periods of 4 to 7 seconds. That's just not gonna hold your weight. The wind is a mess too, mostly cross-onshore from the south, keeping the surface choppy and bumpy. The combined wave energy is weak, barely getting into the double digits (17 to 48). It's frustrating, but it tends not to stay this poor for long around here, and forecasts can change.

We finally see a pulse of energy rolling in for the morning of Friday, August 15th and the weekend. The morning of Saturday, August 15th offers the best looking window. We'll see a cleaner 4 ft swell from the SSW, with a whisper of a cross-offshore wind from the WSW. That cleaner wind is the key. The combined energy is moderate (109), and the period is a short 6 seconds, so it won't be world-class, but it'll be the most surfable we've seen. The 4 ft height is manageable for most, but not quite big enough to be a standout.

The only other moment that looks interesting is the tail end of the run, on the morning of Sunday, August 16th. We get a tiny 1.0 ft leftover pulse from the SE, but with a clean offshore wind from the NW. It's a long shot, but if you're desperate for a glide on a longboard, the conditions will be clean. The combined energy is a very weak 8.

The period from Wednesday, August 19th onward shows a jump in combined energy (141 from the SE), but it's still a short period (7 seconds) and the wind is fresh and lumpy cross-shore. It's more of a kitesurfing setup than a paddle surf one, as the wind is strong and the waves are choppy.

So, here's the bottom line: don't even bother checking the cams for the first week. The standout, if you can call it that, is the morning of Saturday, August 15th. It's not a classic, but it's the closest we get to a clean wave. I'm being honest with you because that's what you deserve. Keep your board waxed, but don't hold your breath.

Rusty.

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