Folly Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let's be straight with you: the next couple of weeks are looking pretty flat and pretty ugly for Folly Beach. There’s no real surf on the table for a good long stretch, so if you’re jonesing for a wave, you might want to find another hobby for a bit.

Right out of the gate, this Saturday afternoon is a write-off. We’ve got a weak, short-period swell coming from the SSW at a pathetic 2ft, with a moderate cross-onshore breeze chopping it all up. The water’s a warm 86°, which is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year, so at least it’ll be a nice swim. But for surfing? Forget it.

The whole of next week is a desert. From Sunday the 16th right through to Saturday the 22nd, we are looking at tiny, weak swell—nothing over 1ft—and a whole lot of cross and cross-onshore wind. There’s a couple of brief windows of glassy conditions, like Sunday morning and Wednesday morning, but with a 1ft to 1ft wave, it’s just not worth paddling out. The combined wave energy is weak, with values struggling to get past the 50s. This is about as minimal as it gets.

Then we get to the following weekend. Sunday the 23rd sees a slight bump, but it’s a short-period, windswell from the south at 2ft. The conditions are still messy, with the onshores building in the afternoon. The energy is still low, and it's a far cry from anything rideable.

The last week of the month shows a little more life, but it’s still not good. The swell gets a bit more consistent, but with the onshore winds, it’s gonna be a messy, blown-out mess. We do see the combined energy start to climb into the triple digits on the 27th, which signals more push, but it’s still accompanied by poor conditions. There’s a couple of glassy mornings on the 28th and 29th, but the swell is weak and short-period, still only around 1ft to 2ft.

The long-range stuff is a bit more promising. On the 27th, we see the swell period jump to 12 seconds and the energy kick up to 107 and 141. This is the most energy we’ve seen in the whole window, but the direction is from the SE, which is okay for Folly’s exposure, but the winds are still cross-onshore. It’s a sign that things might be waking up, but it's still a very long way off and the forecast confidence is low for that period.

Honestly, for a beginner, this whole window is a no-go. For the more experienced, there’s just nothing to get excited about. There are no standout days here, no hidden gems. If the wind was howling and the swell was bigger, this setup would be more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing, but as it stands, we're in a flat spell.

This is a fairly normal blank run for the area. It doesn't stay this bad for long, and forecasts change. But for now, leave the boards at home and dust off the fishing rod.

Rusty.

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