Salmon Creek Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Let me tell you, the next 16 days at Salmon Creek are a flat-out bust for surfers. There’s honestly not a single good session on the board.

The water temp is pretty average for this time of year – nothing unusual. But that wind is the killer. Almost all of it is coming from the WNW, straight onshore, and it just ruins everything. The swell energy can look promising – like 407 on the 25th morning, or jumping up to 1024 on the 29th afternoon – but when it’s all blowin’ in your face, none of it matters.

Right from the start, Tuesday the 25th through to Sunday the 31st of August: every single session is marked as poor. Swell heights are mostly tiny, 2ft to 4ft on these offshore mornings, but that wind is howling onshore, so it’s a choppy mess. Some afternoons pump up to 6ft to 8ft, but the period drops to a pathetic 6 or 7 seconds, and the WNW wind is still at 15 to 19 mph. That’s just junk.

Even the Tuesday morning of September 3rd shows a little hope – 2ft from the SW with a long 19-second period and a light breeze – but it’s only marginal. The swell is too small, and the wind is still onshore. We finally get some cross-shore wind on Friday the 4th of September, but all we’ve got is 3ft at best, and the quality just doesn’t improve.

The best you’ll see is Monday the 7th of September morning. At 6ft from the WNW, a short 6-second period, but the sky is clear and we’ve got a light cross-offshore breeze from the south at 6 mph – that’s clean. The combined energy is moderate at 434. The problem is this is an exposed beach break, and with a 6-second period, the waves will be dumpy and quick. It’s a narrow, one-morning window for someone who doesn’t mind a bit of a closeout.

After that, September 8th and 9th just slide back into cross-on or onshore junk with weak, short-period swell.

The last few days only rate a 1 or 2 out of 10. The whole 16 days is a blank run. For a spot that’s usually very consistent, this quiet spell is a bit unusual – forecasts are always changing, so don’t lose hope entirely. But right now? With that significant swell and strong onshore winds, this setup looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing. Save the wax for another time.

Rusty.

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