New Brighton Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let's get straight into it for New Brighton Beach. Honestly, the next couple of weeks are a real mixed bag, and it's going to be a long wait before anything decent shows its face.

Looking at the whole picture, we’ve got a lot of junk surf on the menu. For the first week and a half, it's pretty grim. We're talking about days and days of tiny, weak windswell or barely anything at all, mostly getting chopped up by the breeze. There’s a stretch from the 21st of August all the way through the 29th of August where there's genuinely no surf worth recommending. That's a solid gap of nearly no surf, just flat spells and poor conditions. The water temp is sitting around 50°F to 59°F... wait, let me check that. It’s actually 50°F with an anomaly of 0.9°F, so it’s pretty much bang average for this time of year. Nothing unusual there.

The first real glimmer of hope comes on Monday the 24th of August. Early morning, the wind drops out to glassy (3 mph from the NW) and we get a tiny 1 ft swell from the SSE with a long period of 14 seconds and weak energy (93). It’s glassy, which is rare, but the swell is so small it's barely surfable. It’s for beginners looking for a practice session, but don't expect much. That glass is a major positive for making the most of what’s there.

After that, it’s back to the slow grind with nothing happening until we jump ahead. The next notable window is on Wednesday the 2nd of September. The morning session looks best: the wind goes glassy again (3 mph from the NW), with a 1 ft swell from the SSE. The period jumps up to a very long 17 seconds, and the energy bumps up to moderate (120). That long period means it’ll be a clean, well-shaped wave, but again, it’s tiny. The water temperature gets a bit milder around 59°F. It’s a good time for a longboard and a paddle, but the size is holding it back.

Right at the very end of the outlook, we get something worth a proper mention. Up on Thursday the 3rd of September afternoon, the swell jumps up: a 3 ft SSE swell with a long 14-second period and strong energy (320). That’s the biggest combo we see. It’s a bit bigger, but the wind is onshore (ENE at 9 mph) which will mess it up. Then, on Friday the 4th of September, we get our true standout. The morning is glassy (3 mph from the NNE), with that same 3 ft SSE swell and a 13-second period pushing strong energy (238). That glassy wind and decent size for the area make it the best bet in the entire 16-day window. It’s still a beach break, so with that long period it might wall up a bit, but the clean conditions will make it fun. Just a heads up, this is out at the start of September, so it’s a long-range call and the certainty isn’t as high as a near-term forecast, but it’s the one to pencil in.

Crowds are listed as "sometimes", so you might see a few other locals sniffing around that Friday morning if the forecast holds. Overall, the setup is so marginal that outside of that Friday, the 4th of September, this beach might be better for a kite session than a paddle surf.

Rusty, signing off.

Read more