Pismo Beach Pier Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, this is Rusty. Let’s take a look at what’s cooking in our neck of the woods.

Right off the bat, I gotta be straight with you: the next couple weeks are looking pretty flat and messy for the most part. There’s really no standout, firing swell on the horizon, and most sessions are going to be marginal at best. We’ve got a long stretch here where the wave energy is low, the winds aren’t playing ball, and the conditions just aren’t coming together for anything epic.

The only place with any real action is Pismo Beach Pier. It’s exposed to the open ocean, but it’s been hanging in there with tiny, weak swells. The combined wave energy through most of the period is moderate at best, bouncing around from 226 to 787, which tells you the punch just isn’t there. The water temperature is sitting at 62°, which is pretty much bang on average for this time of year, so no surprise there.

For the first week, from Friday the 28th of August through to Friday the 4th of September, the swell is small, mostly around 2 feet to 3 feet from the SW and SSW, with periods between 12 and 19 seconds. Those longer periods, especially the 19-second pulse on Friday morning (28th), suggest some real groundswell energy, but the size is tiny. That kind of long-period groundswell is ideal for a place like the pier or a reef, but here it’s just too small to get excited about. The wind is mostly cross or cross-onshore, keeping the surface a bit lumpy and chops up. Saturday the 29th of August morning is the best of this bunch: clear skies, gentle WNW cross-shore breeze, and a 3 feet SW swell. It’s clean, but the wave height is just ankle to knee high. You’re on a longboard or a foamie if you’re paddling out.

Then from Sunday the 30th of August through to Tuesday the 8th of September, the wave energy drops off a cliff, often under 500, and the wind stays cross-onshore a lot of the time. It’s slim pickings. The morning of Monday the 7th of September has a brief moment with light offshore wind from the WSW and a 3 feet SW swell, but it’s still weak (combined energy 474), so you’re looking at small, clean but weak lines.

Things get a tiny bit more interesting on Saturday the 12th of September. That afternoon a pulse of 8 feet swell from the WNW shows up with a very short period of just 7 seconds. The combined energy jumps to 826 (moderate), but that short period means it’s going to be a choppy, weak, and jumbled mess. That’s a lot of water moving around without much push, and the wind is a light cross-onshore. For a beach break like Pismo, that setup is actually better suited for a kite surfer than a paddle surfer. It’s not a session I’d recommend for a beginner either; over 5 feet and short period is just sloppy and tiring.

So there you have it. There’s no single day I’d call a standout. If you’re desperate for a paddle, the cleanest windows are Saturday the 29th of August morning for tiny but groomed waves, or early on the 7th and 12th of September for slightly bigger, if messier, options. The rest of the time, you’re better off taking the dog for a walk and waiting for the next proper swell.

Rusty.

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