Oceanside Harbor Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s cookin’ for the Oceanside Harbor area.

Straight up, I gotta be honest with you – the next 16 days are a real struggle. We’re looking at a long, dry spell with barely a whisper of decent surf. The first actual day with anything worth mentioning is Sunday the 9th, and even then it’s a real marginal call. We’ve got about a week and a half of frustratingly small, weak, and poorly-shaped waves before that.

The whole run is dominated by light to gentle breezes, mostly from the SW or WSW, which keeps things a bit rough around the edges. The swell is coming from the SSW, but it’s tiny. For the first week, we’re looking at waves around 2ft to 3ft. The combined energy of all swells is mostly in the 200s to 400s (moderate energy), but it’s just not doing the job. The period is long, ranging from 13 to 19 seconds – that’s a groundswell – but it’s so small it’s not breaking with any punch. A long period swell like this needs a better setup, and at a beach/jetty spot like Oceanside Harbor, it’s just going to be too straight and weak.

The water temp is a scorching 76°F, which is a massive 9°F warmer than normal for this time of year. That’s very unusual, so you can leave the wetsuit at home, but don’t expect any waves to go with it.

The best of a bad bunch is looking like Sunday the 14th and Monday the 15th. On Sunday the 14th morning, we get a 2ft SSW swell with a 18-second period, and the combined energy jumps to 626 (moderate). The wind is light and from the WSW, coming straight onshore. It’s still marginal, but it’s the most energy we’ve seen. By Monday the 15th morning, the swell bumps up to 3ft from the SSW with a 16-second period and energy at 633. Again, the wind is light WSW, straight onshore. Look, it’s a long shot. The waves are small, the wind is onshore, and the break is a beach/jetty. This is more of a "maybe there’s a tiny, clean-faced wave if you’re desperate" situation. There’s nothing here that I’d call a standout.

After that, it just fades back into the same old pattern of tiny, poor surf. The whole 16-day run is a bust for any real quality. If you’re a kitesurfer, the consistent cross-onshore winds and small, choppy conditions might look more interesting than it does for us paddle surfers.

Rusty.

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