Long Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s size up what Long Beach is serving up for the next couple of weeks.

We kick off Wednesday the 19th of August with some solid swell straight away. The water is 58°F, so a few degrees colder than average – you’ll want a decent wetsuit. Wave energy is strong, with readings of 2078 and 1742 across the sessions. Swell is 8ft from the SW with a 12-second period, so there’s some real grunt. The wind is light offshore from the SSE in the morning, turning to a gentle offshore in the afternoon, giving you clean, smooth waves. This is proper surfing for the experienced crew. Long Beach is a sandbar setup, fairly consistent, and sheltered from the SW, exactly where this swell is coming from. The standout is Wednesday morning – that’s your session.

Thursday the 20th gets even bigger. Morning swell hits 12ft from the SW with a 13-second period, and the combined energy is a massive 3903, which is strong. A light offshore SSE breeze keeps it clean, but this is over 8ft, so it’s experts-only. The afternoon eases to 10ft with a cross-off wind, still clean but not as perfect. Experienced surfers only.

Friday the 21st backs off. Morning has 6ft SW swell with a moderate cross-off wind. It’s clean but the quality drops. Afternoon goes to 5ft and cloudy with a moderate offshore – nothing to get excited about.

The weekend is a bust. Saturday the 22nd is onshore and cross-onshore, with messy 4ft to 6ft swell. Sunday the 23rd bounces back with 8ft WSW swell, a light cross-off in the morning cleaning up to a moderate offshore in the afternoon. The energy is strong (1909 and 1546), and it’ll be good for experienced surfers again.

The next week starts to fade. Monday the 24th and Tuesday the 25th are marginal with cross-off winds and smaller swell. Wednesday the 26th afternoon has a gentle offshore and 6ft SW swell that’ll be clean and fun for intermediates.

Then it gets rough. Thursday the 27th through the end of August is mostly marginal to poor. Friday the 28th sees a jump to 10ft in the afternoon, but a fresh cross-off wind and a short 9-second period make it ugly. Saturday the 29th is a write-off: 13ft swell with a near gale-force cross-off wind, blown out and dangerous. The energy is 4764, very strong, but the wind wrecks it. Sunday the 30th is onshore and messy.

Now, early September has a late call that could be special. Monday the 31st of August has a clean 8ft WSW swell with a 15-second period and a gentle cross-off breeze. That’s groundswell, and at a sandbar it might be a bit straight, but the energy is strong (3693) and conditions are excellent for experts.

The real gem is Tuesday the 1st of September. The morning is glassy – dead calm – with a 7ft WSW swell at 14 seconds and combined energy of 2140. Glassy conditions and solid SW groundswell? That’s as good as it gets. The afternoon stays clean with a gentle offshore. This is the standout of the second week, but it’s over a week out, so keep an eye on it. The following days drop off into smaller, weaker surf, with a final pulse of 10ft+ swell on Thursday the 3rd of September, but cross-off winds and shorter period mean it’s not the same quality.

Bottom line: your best bets are Wednesday morning the 19th and the glassy Tuesday the 1st of September. The big stuff in between is for experts when the wind behaves. Those weekend gaps are a drag, but the surf doesn’t stay poor for long around here.

Rusty.

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