Huntington Cliffs Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s get into it. It’s a bit of a flat spell out there for the next few days, to be honest. Looking at the charts for Huntington Cliffs, we’ve got a whole lot of nothing happening for the start of this period. The swell is small and the wind is just junk – mostly cross-onshore and onshore, which is going to chop up anything that tries to break. The water is warm, though, sitting at 73°F, and that’s running a fair bit warmer than usual for this time of year, which is a nice touch if you’re just going for a paddle.

The first real mention of anything surfable doesn’t come until Thursday, September 17th, and even then, it’s marginal. We’re looking at a small southwest swell around 2ft, but there are question marks over the tide. The wind is light and straight onshore, which isn't ideal, but it might be rideable on the right sandbank. It’s not going to be epic, but it's the only game in town that morning.

Honestly, the next week or so is a grind. The swell stays in that 2ft to 3ft range, and the wind keeps flipping between light and gentle breezes, but it’s mostly cross-onshore. There’s a brief window on the morning of Saturday, September 19th where the wind drops right out – just a slight air – and we get a 2ft southwest swell, but it’s still just cross-onshore. It’s promising to be clean with that long 18-second period, but the size is lacking. There’s a real gap of poor conditions stretching from now until then, with only these marginal calls to keep the hope alive.

Moving into the following week, the swell from the southwest tries to push up a touch, hitting 3ft on Monday, September 21st, but again, the wind is light and mostly onshore. It’s a consistent theme – the energy is there in the water, but the quality just isn’t. This setup looks like it’s going to be a real struggle for a paddle surfer, to be honest. The surf quality is poor, the wind is onshore, and it’s a beach setup. If it stays this windy, it might be more interesting for the kite crew than anyone on a shortboard. The wave period is still long, around 17 seconds, but it’s just too small to do anything with.

After that, we start to see the swell slowly back off again. The waves get smaller, back down to 2ft to 2ft. The period also shortens, losing that long-period groundswell energy. We’re looking at a long stretch of small, choppy, and poor conditions through the end of the month. There’s a hint of a cleaner window on Sunday, September 27th, with a little more southwest in the swell and the wind dropping to a slight air, but it’s still only 2ft.

So, what’s the call? The best on offer is probably that Thursday, September 17th morning, but it’s a low bar. A day later, on Saturday, September 19th, might be cleaner if you can find a bank, but it’s still small. Keep your expectations low, and maybe look at the long-range. The forecasts are a bit more uncertain the further out you go, but there’s a glimmer of a better period on Tuesday, September 29th and Wednesday, September 30th, with the swell direction swinging back to the southwest and periods picking back up to 15-16 seconds. It’s still small, around 2ft, but the energy is there. It’s promising, but I wouldn’t book the time off work just yet.

It’s a tough stretch, folks. Sometimes it’s like this. We just gotta wait for that window to open up.

Rusty

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