Misquamicut State Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, folks, Rusty here. Let’s be straight with you. Looking at the next couple of weeks, it’s a tough stretch for surf. We’ve got a long run of small, weak, and mostly messy waves, with no real swells on the horizon. The good news is there’s a little window of clean conditions early next week, but the waves are tiny. So, manage your expectations.

The water’s running a bit colder than normal for this time of year, about 69°F, which is a couple of degrees off the average. You’ll feel that without a spring suit.

The first few days—through the weekend—are pretty grim. We’ve got a lot of onshore and cross-onshore wind, choppy, lumpy surf, and tiny swells. The energy is weak, with values mostly in the 20s to 80s. It’s just not doing anything.

Then, on Monday, August 11th and Tuesday, August 12th, the wind finally swings offshore. We get that clean, cross-off flow that keeps the surface glassy. The problem? The swell is barely a pulse. We’re looking at 2ft to 3ft of short-period slop from the SSW with a period of only 5 seconds. The energy is still weak, sitting in the 30s and 40s. It’s clean but tiny – maybe a few ankle-biters at Misquamicut State Beach. If you’re desperate for a paddle, that’s your window, but it's a long wall for not much.

There’s another brief clean-up around Saturday, August 15th, with some glassy conditions in the morning, but again, the swell is almost non-existent at 2ft and weak. It’s more of a flat spell than a surf.

From the middle of the month onward, the wave heights drop even further, bottoming out at 0.6ft. There’s a shift in direction to the SSE as we get into the 17th and 18th, with the period stretching to 9-10 seconds, but the size is just not there. The energy is pitifully low, in the teens and 20s. On the 17th, a strong east wind with heavy rain kicks up, but that just chops up what little there is. This is not a surfer's forecast.

Honestly, the standout, if you can even call it that, is the Monday 11th and Tuesday 12th window with those clean offshore winds. It’s the only time the surf will look decent, even if it’s tiny. The rest of the time, it’s a flat, bumpy mess. With this much swell, a cross-shore wind, and a beach break setup, the waves are so weak and wind-blown that it might be more interesting for the kite surfers than for us paddle surfers.

Keep faith, though. The consistency at Misquamicut is usually there, so a run this poor is likely to break. Forecasts can change. We just have to wait for the ocean to wake up.

Rusty.

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