Galveston-61st Street Pier Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a hard look at what’s cookin’ for Galveston-61st Street Pier over the next couple weeks. Gotta be straight with you – it’s a tough stretch for paddle surfing, but let’s break it down.

The whole 16-day window is a flat spell. Honestly, there’s nothing that gets the heart pumpin’. The combined wave energy barely registers a pulse – we’re looking at values like 2, 14, and at the very best, a measly 39 in the combined energy (combined energy of all swells directed here). That’s weak, folks. The swell heights hover between 0.3ft and 3ft, with periods so short you could count them on one hand – mostly 4 to 6 seconds. That’s pure wind slop, not groundswell.

Starting Sunday morning, September 6th, it’s a stormy mess with 0.7ft of S swell and a 4-second period. Water temp is sitting at 87°F with a 3°F anomaly – that’s a touch warmer than normal, which is nice for a swim, but not for surfing. The wind is cross-offshore (NE 3 mph) early on, but the surf is just too small and weak to care. That afternoon, the wind swings onshore (SE 6 mph) and it’s a total flat washout.

Monday the 7th and Tuesday the 8th offer a glimmer of glass or cross-off wind in the mornings (NW 3 mph and W 6 mph), but we’re talkin’ 0.3ft to 0.7ft waves. You’ll be floating. No push, no shape.

The days roll by with a constant “poor surf conditions” tag. By Wednesday the 9th and Thursday the 10th, we see a tiny bump to 1ft from the SSE with periods of 5 seconds, but the wind is cross-onshore or onshore, making it choppy. The combined energy climbs to just 23 – still weak as dishwater.

The best we get, and I use that term loosely, shows up around Saturday the 12th with a 2ft S swell at 4 seconds, combined energy hitting 17. That morning the wind is cross-shore (WSW 6 mph), so you might find some tiny, gutless crumbly lines. But the afternoon brings onshore S wind at 12 mph, turning it into a messy windswell.

Moving into the second week, it’s more of the same. Sunday the 13th through the 21st, we rarely see anything over 3ft. The combined energy maxes out at 40 on Monday the 21st, with a 2ft SSE swell and an 8-second period. That morning has a cross-offshore N wind at 12 mph, so it’ll be clean-looking, but the swell is still tiny and weak. That afternoon, the wind goes cross-shore from the ENE at 3 mph – glassy, but again, where’s the wave?

Look, with this kind of small, weak, short-period swell and predominantly onshore wind in the afternoons, this setup honestly looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing. For a beginner spot, the “too big” problem isn’t an issue because it never gets there – but there’s just nothing to ride. It’s a blank run, and for this area, that’s pretty normal. Forecasts can change, but as it stands, leave the board at home and go fishing.

Rusty.

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