Folly Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let's get into it. Rusty here, and I'll tell you straight – the next two weeks are a tough watch for Folly Beach. We've got a long stretch of flat, weak, and messy conditions ahead where nothing really comes together.

We're starting off with no real surf to speak of. Thursday kicks things off with barely a push. The water temp is sitting at 83°, which is about a degree and a half warmer than usual for this time of year, so a little bit of that summer warmth is hanging on, but that’s where the good news ends. The swell energy is tiny, barely registering a 36 on the energy scale. It's weak, and it's not going anywhere.

From here, it's a long stretch of poor conditions. We'll see a few days where the wind lightens up and the water gets clean, like Saturday morning and Sunday morning, but the swell is just too small – 1 ft to 1 ft – to even get excited about. The period is short and the energy is barely there. This is a real dry spell. We're looking at a gap of nearly a week and a half of nothing worth paddling out for.

Now, the only time things start to show a pulse is around Saturday the 19th and Sunday the 20th. The swell finally bumps up a bit, with Saturday morning seeing a clean 3 ft from the E with a 7-second period and 70 units of energy. Not big, but the cross-offshore wind from the NNE keeps it clean. That energy climbs to 117 on Saturday afternoon as the swell hits 3 ft, but the wind swings onshore and chops it up. By Sunday, a fresh breeze from the ENE at 19 mph has the waves lumpy and messy. It's a tease.

The best shot in this whole forecast is Wednesday the 23rd. We finally get a decent combination. The morning starts with a clean 4 ft swell from the E, with a period of 8 seconds and moderate energy of 149. But the key here is the wind: a strong 22 mph offshore from the W. That's going to clean it right up and hold the faces open. It'll be a bit of a battle to get out, but the reward will be some fun, punchy walls on the sets. By the afternoon, it drops back to 3 ft but stays clean with a lighter WSW breeze. This is the standout window, plain and simple.

Overall, there's a lot of waiting for a short window. For the beginner to intermediate crew, that swell on the 23rd is manageable, but the offshore wind makes it a bit trickier. For experts, it's a welcome break from the flat spell. If you're itching for a paddle, that Wednesday morning is your only real call. For everything else, save the drive.

- Rusty

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