Fort Lauderdale 14th Street Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s cookin’ for Fort Lauderdale 14th Street.

To be straight with you, the next 16 days are a real tough stretch. There's no surf worth paddling out for in the entire window. The first record shows Thursday, July 30th, and even then we’re looking at a tiny 0.33 ft wave from the northeast with a 9-second period and combined energy of just 7 – that’s weak, barely a ripple. The wind is a messy cross-off at 12 mph, and the report flat out calls it poor surf. That theme just keeps rollin’ through the whole period.

We get a glimmer of glassy conditions on Saturday, August 1st, with a light SSW breeze at 3 mph, but the swell is still only 0.66 ft from the east with an 8-second period. The combined energy is a measly 8. It’s glassy, but there’s not enough push to do anything. The whole first week is filled with small, weak swell from the southeast or east, mostly around 1 ft to 3 ft, with cross-onshore or onshore winds from the SSE or ESE at 9 to 16 mph, keeping the surface choppy. The combined energy values stay low, in the single digits and teens, which tells you the wave energy is just not there.

Moving into the second week, things start to look a little more interesting on paper, but the outcome is still poor. Around Sunday, August 9th, the swell starts to come from the northeast with a period of 10 seconds, and the combined energy climbs to 54 and 75 by the afternoon. Still, the wind is onshore from the ESE at 12 mph, and the wave comment stays poor. By Monday, August 10th, the combined energy gets up to 98, and the period hits 11 seconds, but the wind is still onshore from the ESE. That’s a long-period groundswell starting to develop, but it’s being blown out.

The best chance of anything decent on paper shows up around Tuesday, August 11th, and Wednesday, August 12th. The swell holds at 2 ft to 3 ft from the northeast, with a solid 11-second period and combined energy jumping into the 100s (127 to 154). That’s moderate wave energy, and a long-period groundswell like that carries some real punch. But the wind is the killer. Tuesday morning has onshore conditions from the SE at 6 mph, and by afternoon it’s stronger from the ESE at 12 mph. Wednesday morning is the closest we get to a clean window, with a light cross-onshore from the SE at only 3 mph, leaving just small wind ripples. The swell is 3 ft, 11 seconds, from the NE, with combined energy of 154. That is the standout of the whole outlook, but it’s still marked as poor surf. The afternoon gets choppy again.

After that, the energy fades back into the 50s and 80s, with onshore winds persisting. The water temperature anomaly is not mentioned in the first record, so I can’t tell you if it’s warmer or colder than usual for this time of year.

Bottom line: there’s a long, dry gap of no good surf from now through the entire 16-day forecast. The consistency is listed as “inconsistent” for this spot, and this kind of blank run is more normal for the area when it’s sheltered like this. If you’re desperate, Wednesday morning, August 12th, with that 3 ft NE groundswell and light wind, might give you a few crumbly ones, but don’t expect much. With the onshore winds and small, weak surf on most days, and the setup being a sheltered beach, this is looking more like a kiteboarding window than a surfing one for the majority of the period.

Rusty.

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