Huntington Cliffs Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let's take a look at what's cookin' for Huntington Cliffs over the next couple of weeks.

Honestly, it's a pretty quiet stretch overall. We're looking at a 16-day window but there's no real surf to get excited about, especially in the first week. The swell coming in is small and weak, and the wind is all wrong for most of it. There's a bit of a bump in energy towards the second week, but even then, we're just talkin' marginal conditions at best.

Huntington Cliffs is the only spot on the menu. It's exposed to a WSW swell, and we're getting Southwest swell pretty much the whole time, which is in the right ballpark. But the devil's in the details. The water is running at 72°F and that's a full 5°F warmer than normal for this time of year, which is a pretty wild anomaly.

Sunday, September 13th through Friday, September 19th – It’s a dry spell, plain and simple. The swell height struggles to get over 2ft to 3ft, even though the period is often long (13 to 18 seconds). The real problem is the wind. It’s coming from S, SSE, or WSW almost non-stop, putting us in a cross-on or onshore flow. This is makin' it choppy and messy for paddling. There's moderate wave energy in the water (200 to 469 in the combined energy), but with that wind, it's just not surfable. Thursday the 17th and Friday the 18th mornings have a glimmer of hope with light offshore winds and a tiny 2ft to 3ft swell, rated as marginal, but it’s fleeting.

Saturday, September 20th through Sunday, September 27th – The wave energy starts to climb a bit, hitting a high of 538 on the 21st, with swell heights finally touching 3ft to 3ft. The period stays solidly in the 15 to 18-second range, which means it's a proper groundswell. The problem again? Wind. It's mostly onshore or cross-on from SW and WSW. Morning sessions on the 20th, 21st, and 22nd see light breezes and even a bit of offshore flow, pushin' the rating up to a marginal 1/10. But you're still looking at poor surf conditions on the afternoon reports.

Monday, September 28th – The very end of the run sees another pulse of long period swell (20 seconds) with a combined energy of 485, but it's only 2ft. The wind switches to a light onshore from the SW, which is again not ideal.

The Bottom Line:
There’s no standout session here. If you’re desperate for a wave, the absolute best you’ll get is a marginal, small, clean-ish wave on a Thursday or Friday morning when that offshore wind lands, but it’s nothin' to write home about. For a beginner-friendly spot, the swell isn't big enough to be a problem. But the whole run is a bum steer thanks to that persistent onshore chop. Honestly, this setup looks more interesting for a kite surfer than a paddle surfer for most of the next two weeks.

Rusty.

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