Long Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s be straight with you – we’ve got a tough stretch ahead for the next 16 days, and I’m not gonna sugarcoat it. The only break in the game is Long Beach.

Right now, on Monday afternoon, the water temp is sitting at 82°, which is about average for this time of year, so no surprises there. But the surf? It’s a mess. We’re looking at a persistent, onshore wind from the east, blowing at 19 mph, and it’s ruining any chance of a clean wave. The swell is coming from the east at 5 ft with a short, weak period of 8 seconds, and the combined energy is only moderate at 299. It’s just lumpy, choppy, and poor.

This pattern is locked in. Through Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and right into the weekend of the 19th and 20th of July, it’s the same story. Winds are cross-onshore, the swell stays short-period (7-8 seconds), and the wave comment is consistently “poor surf conditions.” The swell height hangs around 5 ft to 6 ft, but the energy is never strong enough to overcome the messy wind. The combined energy dips into the 200s on some days, and peaks near 459 on the 18th of July, but that’s still only moderate energy, and it’s all junk.

Look, the swell direction is from the east to east-northeast, which is not a bad direction for Long Beach, but the wind is wrong. It’s never offshore, never glassy. It’s a constant cross-onshore flow, sometimes fresh, sometimes moderate, but always ruining the surface. The swell period is also too short (7-8 seconds) to produce any real power or shape. It’s basically windswell.

We have a gap of nothing but poor conditions. There is no standout day. The closest thing to a change we see is around the 24th and 25th of July, where the wind shifts to a pure cross-shore direction, but it’s still strong (19-22 mph) and the swell is small (5 ft to 5 ft) and weak. The forecast is consistent, but that consistency is just bad news.

For the second week, from the 21st of July onward, the swell drops off even more, with heights under 4 ft on the 22nd, and combined energy falling to 122. That’s barely a ripple. There’s a little bump in energy on the 23rd and 28th of July, with values around 400, but the wind is still cross-onshore. It’s not going to be good.

Honestly, for this entire 16-day window, I’d keep the board in the car. The setup is more interesting for a kite surfer than a paddle surfer, with that steady onshore breeze and bumpy, short-period swell. There’s no window of clean, glassy surf to get excited about. It’s a dry spell, but for this area, a blank run like this is pretty normal when the trades set in.

Keep your chin up. Forecasts can change.

Rusty.

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