Salmon Creek Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s on the table for Salmon Creek over the next couple of weeks. I gotta be straight with you – this is a tough outlook. Onshore winds are the story for most of it, which means a whole lot of choppy, blown-out conditions. The first real window we see is a ways off, so don’t get your hopes up for this weekend.

We’ve got a gap right at the start. Saturday the 12th and Sunday the 13th are write-offs – solid onshore wind and messy swell. You’d be fighting an uphill battle. Monday the 14th morning shows a glimmer of hope with a 5ft swell from the WNW and a light breeze, but the combined wave energy is moderate at 516 and the call is still marginal. Not worth paddling out for.

The first real standout comes on Tuesday morning, September 15th. The wind goes glassy out of the SSE at just 3 mph, and we’ve got a 5ft swell from the WNW with a moderate 477 energy reading. The report says “expect good surf conditions” – and with that glass, it’ll be clean. This is your best early call. That WNW swell direction isn’t the absolute optimum (which is WSW), but for Salmon Creek, this is about as good as it gets in this forecast.

Wednesday the 16th morning is also worth a mention – clean 4ft swell from the WNW with a light offshore cross-off breeze. The energy is moderate at 348. It’ll be fun, but the Tuesday morning has the edge for quality.

After that, we hit a long dry spell. From Thursday the 17th right through to Tuesday the 22nd, the surf gets small and weak, or the wind is straight onshore and ruining it. There are some long-period groundswells sneaking in around the 18th and 19th (periods up to 19 seconds), but they’re tiny at 2ft, and the wind is on it. Not worth your time.

Then we get a big red flag. Saturday, September 26th and Sunday, September 27th bring a serious pulse of energy. By Sunday morning we’re looking at a 7ft WNW groundswell with an 11-second period and combined energy shooting up to a very strong 1317. Problem is, the wind is onshore until the very last session on Sunday morning (27th) where it goes light cross-onshore. That’s a heavy, chunky swell for Salmon Creek. For experienced surfers only – that 7ft is too much for anyone but the experts. The waves will have power, but the light cross-onshore wind won’t give you perfection. Still, it’s the biggest swell of the period, and if you’re good, it might be a raw, punchy session.

Water temp is about average for this time of year, so no nasty surprises there. Crowds at Salmon Creek are *sometimes* an issue, but with all this onshore wind, I doubt you’ll see many takers until that Tuesday morning glass-off.

Bottom line: Tuesday morning the 15th is the cleanest, most user-friendly surf. Sunday the 27th is the biggest and most powerful, but it’s for experts only and comes with a caveat of light cross-onshore breeze. Everything else is a miss.

Rusty.

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