Folly Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s talk about what’s happening at Folly Beach over the next couple of weeks.

Honestly, straight up, there’s nothing to get excited about in the water right now. The whole 16-day stretch is a flat spell. We’re looking at tiny, weak waves across the board, with the swell barely pushing 3ft on a good day, and most days it’s just ankle-snappers around 0.7ft to 1ft. The combined swell energy stays low, mostly under 50, so there’s just no punch.

The water temp is sitting at a toasty 84°F, which is about 2°F warmer than normal for this time of year, so it’s a bit on the warm side, but that’s the only unusual thing.

We kick off from Tuesday, 25 August with no real surf. Wednesday and Thursday are just as flat, with cross-onshore winds chopping up what little bump there is. Friday the 28th morning sees a brief glass-off with a light cross-offshore breeze from the WSW, but it’s still only 1ft – not worth paddling out for. The wind turns choppy again by the afternoon.

Saturday and Sunday (29-30 August) offer nothing but small, messy slop. The wind stays onshore or cross-onshore, and the swell period is short, in the 5-8 second range. It's just bumpy and weak.

We then hit a long stretch from Monday, 31 August right through to Wednesday, 9 September. There are a couple of mornings that look glassy, like the mornings of 1 September and 2 September, with light winds and even a glassy surface. But the wave height never gets above 1ft. You’d be floating around on a lake. The swell period creeps up to 12 seconds on the afternoon of 2 September, which is a nice long period, but the height is still 1ft, so there’s just no energy to work with. The combined energy peaks at 68 on the afternoon of 6 September, but with a 2ft swell and 7-second period, it’s still just weak, choppy junk.

So here’s the deal – if you look at the whole run, there’s no standout session. The best you could hope for is a glassy morning with a tiny 1ft groundswell from the SE, like on 2 September morning, but it’s not even a surfable wave. It’s more of a paddleboard day. The break is fairly consistent for the region, but there just isn’t any swell forecast.

Crowds at Folly can pop up sometimes, but with this kind of flatness, you’ll have the place to yourself. Honestly, if you’re desperate for a wave, you might be better off with a kite setup because the combo of light wind days and small wind chop is more interesting for a kite than a surfboard.

Keep an eye on the charts, things change. But for now, it’s a no-go.

Rusty

Read more