Jennette's Pier Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let's get into it. This is your local surf report, Rusty here.

First up, the outlook for the next 16 days is a bit of a tough one for the Outer Banks. We're looking at a long stretch of small, weak swells and tricky winds. The water at Jennette's Pier is sitting at 83°, which is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year, so that's a nice plus.

The pattern starts with a bit of energy from the east on Monday, July 13th, but it's coming with a short 7-second period and a strong onshore breeze. With 5ft of swell and 220 units of combined energy (moderate), it's pretty messy. The wind is on it, so it's a pass. That onshore wind hangs around through Tuesday, with the swell dropping fast.

Wednesday, July 15th, the wind finally goes light offshore from the WNW, but the swell is barely a ripple at 2ft and 30 units of energy. It's clean, but there's nothing to ride.

We have a real gap here. From Wednesday afternoon, July 15th, all the way through to the morning of Monday, July 20th, the surf is essentially non-existent. We're talking tiny 0.3ft to 1.0ft waves with poor winds. It's a dead period.

Monday, July 20th morning shows a little blip of life with a 3ft SE swell, a short 8-second period, and 105 units of combined energy. However, the wind is a cross-onshore from the NNE, making it choppy. Not great.

The same small, short-period SE swell sticks around for a few days, but the winds are never clean enough to make anything of it. The best chance in this whole window comes late on Wednesday, July 22nd. The afternoon sees a 3ft swell from the east with a 7-second period, 102 units of energy, and a light cross-offshore breeze from the SSW. The conditions are described as "surfable waves but very ordinary." It's the only day in the whole forecast that gets a score of 1 out of 10, which says it all. That's your best bet, but it's a far cry from good.

From Thursday, July 23rd, onward, it's back to tiny, weak swells and messy winds. The last few days of the forecast into the end of July show some clean conditions with offshore winds, but the swell is just too small at 1ft to 2ft. It's a frustrating outlook, honestly. For a beach break like Jennette's Pier, with this lack of size and poor wind, it's looking more like a setup for kite surfing than paddle surfing for most of this period.

So, the short story is: Don't hold your breath. The only real standout, if you can call it that, is Wednesday afternoon, July 22nd, just for a chance at a few ordinary waves. Hopefully, the forecasts change because this is a long dry spell.

Rusty.

Read more