48th Street Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, this is Rusty, and I’m lookin’ at the stretch ahead for our local spot. Honestly, it’s a tough one. We’ve got a long, drawn-out run of small, weak, and messy conditions, so don’t expect much for a good while. The first real chance of a paddle comes on Wednesday the 22nd, but it’s not exactly a classic.

Wednesday morning the 22nd, we’ve got a pulse of 5ft southerly swell on a short 8-second period. The wind is offshore from the west-southwest at 19 mph, which keeps the surface clean, but the wave energy is moderate (292). The water is a touch warmer than normal at 78°, nothin’ crazy. It’s just ordinary, marginal surf. That afternoon the swell drops to 4ft, still with a clean offshore wind, but the energy fades to 190 – still just surfable, but nothing to write home about.

Then we hit a real dry spell. From Thursday the 23rd all the way through to Tuesday the 29th, it’s mostly poor surf conditions with tiny, weak, and often choppy or cross-onshore slop. Swell sizes stay under 3ft, periods are short, and the energy is mostly weak, with values in the double digits. There’s a brief flicker on Tuesday the 28th morning with a 5ft southerly swell and a moderate energy reading of 241, but it’s a short-period 7-second windswell, and the wind is cross-offshore. Only for the committed, and still only marginal.

The only real glimmer comes on Wednesday the 29th afternoon. The wind goes glassy, with a light variable from the south-southeast, and the swell is a tiny 2ft from the southeast. It’s clean, but it’s weak – energy is only 58. This is a “surfable but very ordinary” moment. Not a standout, just a brief window of calm.

Thursday the 30th afternoon has another glassy moment with a 4ft southerly swell, period 6 seconds, and energy at 130 – still a short-period, messy swell, but at least the wind is off. Again, nothin’ special.

The rest of the outlook, right through to Thursday the 6th of August, is a wasteland of tiny, weak, or blown-out conditions. Swell stays below 3ft, periods are short, and energy is mostly in the double digits. There’s one small window on Sunday the 2nd of August morning with a 4ft southerly swell and a light offshore breeze, but it’s short-period and the energy is only 129 – still just ordinary.

Bottom line: there’s no single standout session in this 16-day window. The best you’ll get is a few fleeting hours of clean, small surf, but nothing that’s gonna get the heart pumpin’. For a beach-jetty setup like 48th Street, with mostly weak, short-period swell and onshore winds, it’s more of a kite-surfing kind of window than a paddle-surfing one. Hang tight, and keep an eye on the forecasts – it can’t stay this flat forever.

Rusty.

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