Huntington Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, this is Rusty checking in from the Huntington Beach (United States) area.

It’s a flat and frustrating outlook, my friends. We’re looking at a long stretch of pretty weak, small surf over the next 16 days. The theme here is very small to tiny waves, with the wind rarely playing nice. There are no proper standouts in the whole forecast period.

Let’s start with what we have on Tuesday, August 25th. We’re looking at a tiny 2 ft swell out of the Southwest with a long, clean period of 16 seconds. The energy is weak (314). Unfortunately, the wind is a light cross-onshore, so it’s only marginal, and the south-facing angle isn’t ideal for the pier area. It’s small and a bit bumpy.

Wednesday, August 26th, things pick up a touch. The morning shows a 4 ft swell from the South with a 12-second period, giving us a moderate 725 energy. But again we have that cross-onshore breeze, which kills the quality. It’s the same story on Thursday, August 27th with 4 ft swell and cross-onshore wind.

The pattern we see is a persistent cross-onshore or onshore wind, usually from the South to Southwest. Even when the swell tries to build, the onshore wind makes it bumpy and poor. The water temperature is about average for this time of year.

As we head into the weekend of August 29th and 30th, the swell drops right back down. Saturday morning has 3 ft from the South-Southwest, but it’s onshore wind. This pattern of marginal, bumpy conditions drags on through the first week of September. By the time we get to Friday, September 4th, we are still looking at small 3 ft swells with onshore wind.

There is a genuine gap in quality surf. From now right through to September 9th, the surf stays small—mostly between 1 ft and 4 ft—and the wind is almost always onshore or cross-onshore. The best of a bad bunch might be Saturday morning, September 5th, with a 4 ft south-southwest swell and a very light SW wind (slight air), but given the track record, it’s a long shot for anything clean. That’s the only time the wind looks light.

Forget about any decent options. The consistent onshore flow and small size mean the beach breaks like Huntington will be a blown-out mess. This is more of a flat spell for paddle surfing. With the constant onshore wind and small waves, the setup looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing.

We’re looking at a long drought here. Hang in there.

Rusty.

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