Surf Forecasts:
Piha-The Bar surf forecast from 31 Aug 2026:
- Best quality surf: Tuesday 1 Sep, 12PM (local time) - 16ft (5.0m), 14s period, SW swell with cross-shore winds.
- Most powerful swell: Monday 7 Sep, 3AM (local time) - 16ft (5.0m), 16s period, WSW swell with 11,185 kJ wave energy.
- Next surfable swell (1★+): Tuesday 1 Sep, 12PM (local time) - 16ft (5.0m), 14s period with SW swell.
Best Forecast Surf Conditions for Piha-The Bar this week:
The surf forecast for Piha-The Bar over the next 16 days: The first swell (rated 1 star or higher) is forecast to arrive on Tuesday (Sep 01) at 12PM. The primary swell is predicted to be 5.0m and 14s period with a secondary swell of 0.1m and 24s. The wind is predicted to be cross-shore as the swell arrives.
The most powerful waves expected at Piha-The Bar in the next 16 days are 5.0m 16s and forecast to arrive on Monday (Sep 07) at 3AM. Winds are predicted to be cross-onshore at the time the swell arrives.
| Wave Type | Time (NZST) & Date | Wave Height & Period |
|---|---|---|
| Next good surf (1 star+) | 12PM (Tue 1st Sep) | 16ft (5.0m) 14s |
| Best Surf | 12PM (Tue 1st Sep) | 16ft (5.0m) 14s |
| Most Powerful | 3AM (Mon 7th Sep) | 16ft (5.0m) 16s |
Table - best surf conditions forecast for Piha-The Bar over the next 16 days.
The Lowdown
G’day, I’m Rusty, and I’ve been staring at the charts for Piha-The-Bar (New Zealand) trying to find a wave worth paddling for. The honest truth is, this is a real tough stretch. The swell is constantly pumping, but it’s mostly too big, too messy, or the wind is just screaming. There’s a solid 8-day gap of poor to marginal surf conditions from Tuesday the 1st of September through to Tuesday the 8th of September, with no real standout. It’s not until the second week that we start to see a flicker of hope.
So, let’s be real: the best window to even consider a paddle is shaping up around Saturday the 12th of September. The morning still looks average with a 12ft WSW swell and moderate cross-shore wind, but the afternoon cleans up noticeably. The wind swings to a moderate cross-shore, the swell holds at 12ft from the WSW with a 17-second period, and the combined wave energy is a solid 6813 – that’s strong, powerful groundswell energy. It’s still a big wave, over 8ft, so this is for the experienced crew only. The long period will make it grind nicely at this exposed bar, and if the wind plays ball, it could be the pick of the whole forecast. The water is sitting around 57°, which is pretty much average for this time of year, so no surprises there.
Another date to pencil in for the advanced surfers is Wednesday the 16th of September. The morning session is the standout: a 7ft swell from the SW, 13-second period, and clean text with a light offshore breeze from the S. The combined energy is 1934, which is moderate, but the offshore wind is gold. That’s the kind of morning where Piha-The-Bar can actually show its face. The crowds are listed as “sometimes,” so you might have a few others with the same idea, but it’s worth it. The break is fairly consistent, so you can bank on waves.
Outside of those two windows, the rest is a write-off. The first week is plagued by strong cross-shore and onshore winds, with swell heights often over 10ft and bad quality. The water temp anomaly is flat, so nothing weird going on there. It’s a rough run, but the two Saturday and Wednesday windows are your best bets. Keep an eye on the forecast, because it can change, but for now, mark those dates.
Rusty
Short Range ForecastMostly dry. Very mild (max 15°C on Wed afternoon, min 12°C on Tue night). Mainly fresh winds. | Days 4-6 Weather SummaryHeavy rain (total 25mm), heaviest during Sun afternoon. Very mild (max 16°C on Sun afternoon, min 11°C on Sat night). Winds increasing (light winds from the NW on Sat night, strong winds from the NNW by Sun afternoon). | ||||||||||||||||||||
Tuesday 1 | Wednesday 2 | Thursday 3 | Friday 4 | Saturday 5 | Sunday 6 | Monday 7 | |||||||||||||||
AM | PM | Night | AM | PM | Night | AM | PM | Night | AM | PM | Night | AM | PM | Night | AM | PM | Night | AM | PM | Night | |
Swell Height Map |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | ||||||||||||||
Wave Height (m) Direction Period (s) | SW 14 | SW 14 | SW 14 | WSW 14 | WSW 13 | WSW 13 | WSW 14 | WSW 14 | WSW 12 | WSW 14 | W 9 | WSW 15 | WSW 14 | WSW 14 | WSW 14 | WSW 15 | WSW 16 | WSW 16 | WSW 12 | WSW 14 | WSW 14 |
Wave Graph  | |||||||||||||||||||||
 kJ | 10061 | 8471 | 5879 | 3959 | 3102 | 2553 | 1945 | 1848 | 1063 | 3521 | 1764 | 5267 | 5713 | 5508 | 4556 | 4435 | 3705 | 8333 | 7123 | 10522 | 9066 |
Wind (km/h) | |||||||||||||||||||||
Wind State on-shore cross-onshore cross-shore cross-offshore off-shore glassy | cross | cross | cross | cross-on | cross-on | cross-on | cross-on | on | on | on | cross | cross | cross | cross-on | cross-on | cross-on | on | cross-on | cross | cross | cross |
High Tide | 11:56AM2.77m | 00:11AM2.79m | 12:37PM2.69m | 00:54AM2.65m | 1:24PM2.56m | 1:45AM2.47m | 2:21PM2.42m | 2:49AM2.31m | 3:35PM2.32m | 4:12AM2.21m | 5:03PM2.33m | 5:41AM2.24m | 6:22PM2.46m | ||||||||
Low Tide | 6:07PM0.22m | 6:30AM0.19m | 6:51PM0.34m | 7:16AM0.33m | 7:43PM0.49m | 8:11AM0.49m | 8:46PM0.64m | 9:18AM0.62m | 10:03PM0.73m | 10:37AM0.66m | 11:26PM0.69m | 11:55AM0.59m | 00:40AM0.54m | ||||||||
 |  |  | | | | | |  |  |  | | | | | |  |  | | |  | |
 | 6:43 | — | — | 6:41 | — | — | 6:39 | — | — | 6:39 | — | — | 6:37 | — | — | 6:35 | — | — | 6:35 | — | — |
 | — | 6:00 | — | — | 6:01 | — | — | 6:01 | — | — | 6:02 | — | — | 6:04 | — | — | 6:05 | — | — | 6:06 | — |
mm | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 2 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | 15 | 2 | 1 | — | — |
Temp °C | 13 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 15 | 16 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 12 |
Feels °C | 5 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 11 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
Swell 1 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | SW 24 | — | SW 14 | WSW 14 | WSW 13 | WSW 13 | WSW 14 | WSW 14 | WSW 12 | WSW 14 | WSW 13 | WSW 15 | WSW 14 | WSW 14 | WSW 14 | WSW 15 | WSW 16 | — | — | — | WSW 14 |
| kJ | 22 | — | 5879 | 3959 | 3102 | 2553 | 1945 | 1848 | 1063 | 3324 | 700 | 5267 | 5713 | 5508 | 4556 | 4435 | 3705 | — | — | — | 9066 |
Swell 2 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | — | — | SW 21 | WSW 20 | WSW 18 | SW 16 | SW 16 | — | WSW 15 | — | WSW 16 | — | — | WNW 9 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| kJ | — | — | 117 | 253 | 547 | 125 | 127 | — | 568 | — | 926 | — | — | 101 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Swell 3 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| kJ | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Wind waves Height (m) Direction Period (s) | SW 14 | SW 14 | — | WSW 14 | WSW 13 | — | — | — | — | W 14 | W 9 | — | — | — | — | NW 6 | WNW 8 | WSW 16 | WSW 12 | WSW 14 | WSW 14 |
| kJ | 10061 | 8471 | — | 3448 | 2655 | — | — | — | — | 3521 | 1764 | — | — | — | — | 175 | 759 | 8333 | 7123 | 10522 | 7927 |
Nearest Offshore or Glassy | |||||||||||||||||||||
Distance (km) | 89 | 85 | 228 | 231 | 339 | 291 | 325 | 340 | 312 | 340 | 366 | 73 | 228 | 231 | 289 | 363 | 363 | 110 | 179 | 233 | 262 |
Best forecast wave conditions in Auckland | |||||||||||||||||||||
Best forecast wave conditions in New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||
Header Global | |||||||||||||||||||||
- Map Icons:
Break
Live Wave Height (m)
Live Wind Speed (km/h)
Surf Rating (10 Max)
Ocean Swells (m)- Wind Speed (km/h)
FREE! Surf-Forecast.com widget for your website
The surf report / weather widget below is available to embed on third party websites free of charge and provides a summary of our Piha-The Bar surf forecast. Simply grab the html code snippet that we provide and paste it into your own site. You can choose your preferred language and metric/imperial units for the surf forecast feed to suit users of your site. Click here to get the code.
Information about the Piha-The Bar Surf forecast
The above surf forecast table for Piha-The Bar provides essential information for determining whether the surfing conditions will be good over the next 16 days. A general guide to surfing at Piha-The Bar can be found by selecting the local surf guide option on the grey menu. Our Piha-The Bar surf forecast is unique since it includes wave energy (power) that defines the real feel of the surf rather than just the height or the period. If you surf the same spot (Piha-The Bar) regularly then make a mental note of the wave energy from the surf forecast table each time you go. Very soon you may start to choose your surf days based on the wave energy alone combined with our forecast of favourable offshore wind conditions. Our star ratings will help here and of course you will also find the usual wave height and period predictions on our surf forecasts as well as a full break down of the swell components under our advanced users option (to reveal that, click the little Einstein character under the tide times).
Further information to help with frequently asked questions about our surf forecast for Piha-The Bar may be found under the help tab on the top menu and also by moving your mouse over the question marks on the surf forecast table itself. Please always bear in mind that the forecast is for near-shore open water and local factors at each surf break influence the actual breaking wave height, such as the beach / reef profile, water depths offshore and shelter.
Piha-The Bar is 12 km (7 miles) from the city of Auckland. If you plan a holiday in Auckland, look for hotels and other accommodation in Auckland. Auckland has rooms for a wide range of budgets as well as car hire and transport links.
Nearest