Salinas River State Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Reports

(Monterey, USA)

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- 16 Day Forecast
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Salinas River State Beach Surf Guide

Salinas River State Beach in Monterey is an exposed beach break that usually has waves. Winter is the favoured time of year for surfing here. The best wind direction is from the east southeast. Most of the surf here comes from groundswells and the ideal swell angle is from the west. The beach break provides left and right handers. Best around high tide when the tide is rising. It's sometimes crowded here. Beware of rips, locals and sharks.

Salinas River State Beach Spot Info

Type:	Rating:	Reliability:	Todays Sea Temp*:
Beach	4	consistent	14.6°C*ocean temperature recorded from satellite

Surfing Salinas River State Beach:

The best conditions reported for surf at Salinas River State Beach occur when a West swell combines with an offshore wind direction from the East-southeast.

Hourly Forecast

16 Day Forecast

What's the best time of year to surf Salinas River State Beach (for consistent clean waves)?

januaryBest Season: winter

The best time of year for surfing Salinas River State Beach with consistent clean waves (rideable swell with light / offshore winds) is during Winter and most often the month of January. Clean surfable waves are typically found 47% of the time in January while 52% of the time it tends to be blown out. For the remaining 1% of the time it is considered too small by most surfers but may still be OK for beginners and groms at times.

clean

47%

Surfable waves that hold up well for longer rides in prevailing cross-offshore, offshore or light wind conditions.

blown out

52%

Surfable sized waves that are of poorer quality due to prevailing onshore, cross-onshore or windy conditions (may be preferable for kitesurfing).

too small

Waves usually considered too small for good surf. Some wave-magnet breaks may still work though if conditions are right (on occasion).

Explore Salinas River State Beach Location Map

Interactive Salinas River State Beach surf break location map. View information about nearby surf breaks, their wave consistency and rating compared to other spots in the region. Current swell conditions from local buoys are shown along with live wind speed and direction from nearby weather stations. Click icons on the map for more detail. The closest passenger airport to Salinas River State Beach is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC) in USA, 63 km (39 miles) away (directly). The second nearest airport to Salinas River State Beach is Moffett Federal Afld (Mountain View) Airport (NUQ), also in USA, 72 km (45 miles) away.

Map Icons:
Break
Live Wave Height (m)
Live Wind Speed (km/h)
Surf Rating (10 Max)
Ocean Swells (m)
Wind Speed (km/h)

Please note that some surf spot locations are approximate to protect their exact location while others are not shown at close zoom level.

Salinas River State Beach Surf Forecasts:

Hourly Forecast

16 Day Forecast

Todays Surf Summary
Wednesday, 6 May 2026, 11:52 Local Time

m, °C	Wednesday 06
ft, °F	8AM	11AM	2PM	5PM
Wave (m)	SW	SW	SSW	SSW
Period (s)	15	15	15	14
Wind (km/h)
Wind State	glass	on	on	cross- on

Tides at Salinas River State Beach

Current tide and informaton

For Moss Landing, California, 0 km from Salinas River State Beach.

Next High Water: 04:26pm | 1.05m

Next Low Water: 07:25pm | 0.98m

NEXT	IS AT (local time)	remaining
high tide
low tide

Salinas River State Beach Sea Temperature

The water temperature (14.6 °C) at Salinas River State Beach is quite cool. If the sun shines as we have forecast, it should feel warm enough to surf in a good spring wetsuit. Effective windchill factor of (16.0 °C) will make the air and water feel about the same temperature.

Today, many surfers would wear a spring wetsuit.

Current Temp*: 14.6°C*ocean temperature recorded from satellite