Kitty Hawk Pier Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s get straight into it. We’ve got a long stretch ahead, and I’ll be honest with you—it’s a tough one. The next couple of weeks are looking pretty flat and uninspiring for Kitty Hawk Pier. There’s honestly not a single standout session in the whole 16-day window. The surf is tiny, the energy is weak, and we’re mostly dealing with crossed-up or onshore winds that are going to keep things messy.

Looking at the water temp, it’s sitting at 83°F at the start, which is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year—nothing crazy, but you’ll be sweating in your wetsuit top if you even bother.

We kick off on Wednesday, July 15th, with a tiny 1 ft swell from the ESE, but a stiff 12 mph cross-shore from the SSE is making a mess of things—combined energy is a weak 27. Not worth paddling out. Thursday the 16th morning cleans up a bit with a light WSW breeze at 6 mph and a cross-off wind, but the swell is still a pathetic 1 ft and 8 seconds. The energy is only 19. You’ll be doing more floating than surfing.

Friday the 17th morning goes glassy with a 3 mph SSE breeze—absolutely gorgeous surface—but the swell is down to 0.7 ft. That’s a lake, not the ocean. Friday afternoon gets choppy again. Saturday the 18th morning offers clean conditions with a cross-off SSW wind, but it’s still barely 0.7 ft. By Saturday afternoon, the wind cranks up to 25 mph from the south, creating a messy cross-chop, and the swell jumps to 3 ft but with a terrible 4-second period—that’s just wind slop.

Sunday the 19th morning is clean with a 12 mph cross-off, and the swell is 3 ft from the SE at 8 seconds. Energy bumps to 106, which is moderate, but it’s still a marginal, poor surf day. Sunday afternoon sees a 3 ft from the SSE, light north wind, and energy hits 204—that’s actually moderate energy—but it’s still only a 1 out of 10 in the quality department. Choppy, hard to get a proper wave.

After that, things just drag on. Monday the 20th is onshore and messy. Tuesday the 21st has a morning cross-off and a 2 ft swell, but the period is only 7 seconds. Tuesday afternoon sees a 4 ft swell from the SSE, but with a 4-second period and only 49 energy—that’s windswell junk. Wednesday the 22nd morning has a clean offshore wind from the west at 3 mph, but it’s only 2 ft. Still too small.

We get a little bump on Thursday the 24th morning with a 2 ft swell from the SE at 9 seconds and energy of 152—moderate—but it’s cross-onshore from the NE at 9 mph, so it’s choppy. Friday the 25th has clean cross-off winds but the swell is still tiny. The rest of the month into July 30th is a mix of onshore, cross-onshore, and tiny swell with poor quality.

Bottom line: There’s no session here worth calling a standout. The waves are small, the wind is rarely your friend, and the energy is low. If you’re desperate for a paddle, the cleanest windows are Friday morning July 17th (glass, but knee-high) or Wednesday morning July 22nd (offshore, but small). For proper surf, you’ll need to wait for a fresh forecast. This is a dry spell, plain and simple.

Rusty.

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