Morro Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Gotta be straight with you – the next couple of weeks are looking pretty bleak for a proper surf. We’ve got a long stretch of small, messy, onshore-slanted swell hitting Morro Beach. It’s a reef break, and it’s fairly consistent, but that doesn’t mean much when the waves are poor.

For the first week and a half, from Wednesday the 12th right through to Sunday the 23rd of August, it’s a real struggle. We’re looking at tiny waves, mostly between 1ft and 3ft, coming from the SSW and SW. The wind is almost always on it, either cross-onshore or onshore, making for choppy, crumbly conditions. The energy is weak to moderate (198 to 563), and the swell periods are all over the place, from short 13-second stuff to some longer 19-second groundswell lines, but it doesn't matter because the wind is just wrecking it. Water temp is around 72°F, which is much warmer than usual for this time of year – feels more like a bath than the ocean.

The standout, if you can even call it that, would be the mornings of Friday the 14th and Saturday the 15th. Friday morning has a light onshore breeze and a longer-period 19-second swell from the SSW, pushing some decent energy (403) into a 2ft wave. Saturday morning is similar with a 16-second period and 3ft, but it's a cross-onshore breeze. These are the only times in that whole stretch where the forecast even says “marginal” instead of “poor”. Honestly, for a reef break, you need the wind to be offshore or glassy for it to really work, and we just aren't getting that.

After that, the second week from Monday the 24th onward sees the swell stay tiny, mostly 2ft to 2ft. The winds are a little lighter, with some periods of just a light breeze or even near-calm conditions, like on Monday the 24th afternoon. The energy picks up a bit toward the end of the month (up to 475 on the 26th), but it’s still cross-onshore wind and small, weak waves. We get a couple more “marginal” tags on the 25th and 26th mornings, but that’s about the best we can hope for.

So, the honest truth: there’s nothing here to get excited about. This is a blank run, and for this area it’s not totally abnormal. If you absolutely have to get wet, your best bet is dawn patrol on Friday the 14th or Saturday the 15th, and hope for a clean-up set or two. Otherwise, save your energy and wait for the next proper swell.

Rusty.

Read more