Galveston-61st Street Pier Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, folks, Rusty here. Gotta be straight with you – this 16-day window for Galveston-61st Street Pier is a tough one. We're looking at a real flat spell. The first real surf that shows any energy at all isn't until the morning of Saturday, August 1st, and even that's nothing to write home about. So you've got a solid gap of nearly two weeks of tiny, mostly onshore junk.

The water temp is about average for the time of year, so at least you won't be freezing while you're staring at the flat ocean.

Let's run through the highlights, and I use that term loosely. The whole period is a grind. From July 18th right through to the end of the month, we're looking at waves mostly under 1ft, with a combined swell energy struggling to hit three digits – we're seeing values like 23 (late July 18th morning) and 12 (July 19th afternoon). That's weak, no two ways about it. The wind is a constant problem, nearly always cross-on, cross, or onshore, keeping things choppy and messy. There are a few clean windows – like the morning of Monday July 20th, Tuesday July 21st, and Wednesday July 22nd – with light cross-offshore winds, but the swell is so small (1.0ft) with poor periods of 4 seconds that it’s barely a ripple.

The "best" of this first week is probably the morning of Thursday July 23rd. It's still tiny at 2ft, but the swell direction is from the SW, and the wind is light cross-offshore from the W. That gives us the cleanest surf of the bunch, but with a combined energy of just 20, you're looking at knee-high, weak waves. Don't expect to get wet.

Now, we finally see a bit of a pulse kicking in for August 1st. The morning of Saturday, August 1st, shows a 4ft swell from the SSE with a period of 7 seconds. The combined energy jumps to 134 (moderate), which is the best we'll see. The wind is light cross-shore, so it'll be a little bumpy but rideable. The afternoon sees the swell bump to 4ft, but the wind swings onshore and gets choppy. The morning of Sunday, August 2nd, drops back to 3ft.

So, the single standout, if you're desperate, is the morning of Saturday, August 1st. That 4ft SSE swell with light cross-shore wind is the only session that might offer a few fun, crumbly waves. It's a beginner-friendly size, but the crowds are listed as "sometimes," so expect a few others with the same idea. For anything else, you're better off checking the forecast again in a week.

Rusty, signing off.

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