Playa El Palmar Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Look, I’m gonna be straight with you – this outlook for Playa El Palmar is a tough one. Over the next 16 days, there’s just nothing that gets the heart pumping. The swell is tiny and the conditions are ordinary, so don’t go getting your hopes up for any kind of session worth talking about. We’ve basically got a solid gap of no good surf from now through the whole period.

Let’s break it down. Starting Thursday, August 13th, there’s a bit of a pulse, but it’s weak. Thursday morning you’ve got a 2ft swell from the west at 9 seconds, with an ESE wind at 6 mph keeping things clean, but the combined energy is a pathetic 41 – that’s weak. Thursday afternoon gets glassy with a southerly breeze at 3 mph and a tiny 2ft swell, but it’s still just surfable waves with very ordinary conditions. The water temp is about average for this time of year, nothing weird going on there.

Friday, August 14th is more of the same: 2ft swell, cross-off wind in the morning, cross-on in the afternoon. It’s clean, but the energy is weak – 58 tops. Saturday, August 15th sees a bit more size, 3ft, but the period drops to 8 seconds and the wind goes cross-on from the SSW at 9 mph, making it choppy. That’s poor. The rest of that week is a write-off: tiny swell, bad wind, and energy readings barely cracking 30.

The second week doesn’t offer any hope either. From the 18th onward, we’re looking at 1.0ft or less, with occasional glassy mornings but combined energy down to single digits – 7, 5, even 4. That’s not surf, that’s a lake.

There’s a flicker on Thursday, August 27th: the swell pushes up to 3ft from the WNW with a 9-second period, and the combined energy hits 331 – that’s moderate. But it’s still rated as poor surf conditions with onshore wind. And on Friday, August 28th, a strong offshore breeze from the ESE at 25 mph blows clean, but the swell is only 3ft at 6 seconds, with energy at 62. It’d be a battle to even paddle out in that wind.

So the standout – if you can call it that – is Thursday, August 27th afternoon. That 3ft WNW swell with moderate energy (331) is the closest we get to anything, but the onshore wind kills it. And even then, Playa El Palmar is a sandbar break that’s fairly exposed to swell, but with these conditions, it’s not worth the effort.

Honestly, this is a blank run for the area. With the break being fairly consistent normally, I’d say it won’t stay this poor forever – forecasts can change. But for now, leave the board at home.

Rusty.

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