Salmon Creek Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let’s take a look at what’s cooking at Salmon Creek for the next couple of weeks.

Honestly, the first week and a half is a bit of a waiting game. The surf is either tiny, onshore and chopped, or just plain messy. There’s no real standout until we get into the first week of September, but for now, it’s a grind. From Monday the 24th right through to early September, it’s mostly onshore wind from the WNW and weak, poor-quality swell. There’s a brief moment on the morning of Wednesday the 2nd of September where the swell bumps up to 5ft from the NW, but it’s a short-period windswell (7 seconds) with light cross-onshore wind; it’s marginal at best. The water temp is about average for this time of year, nothing unusual there.

The first real sign of life comes on the morning of Thursday, the 3rd of September. We’ve got a 5ft swell from the WNW with an 8-second period, and the key here is the wind: glassy. That means clean, smooth faces. The combined wave energy is moderate at 633. This is your best early window, but it’s still not huge—fine for a longboard or a funboard, and the conditions will make it feel better than the size suggests.

Then, things start to get more interesting towards the end of the window. Friday the 4th of September morning sees a jump to 6ft from the NW with a longer 9-second period and light cross-shore wind. The combined energy jumps to a robust 1162, indicating moderate to strong energy. This is a proper step up in power. It’s still a bit raw with the cross-shore, but the potential is there.

The real standout, though, is the morning of Sunday the 6th of September. We’ve got a solid 7ft groundswell from the NW with an 11-second period, and light offshore wind from the WNW (6 mph). The combined energy is blasting at 1405—strong, powerful stuff. This is big, clean, and punchy. This is the one to circle on your calendar. At 7ft, it’s getting into expert-only territory, especially with that long period, which will make it wall up and throw. Salmon Creek is an exposed beach/reef setup, and with this much juice, the paddle-out will have some sting, but the reward is there. Conditions will be glassy and groomed. The crowd rating says “sometimes,” so there might be a few others with the same idea, but for a high-quality window like this, it’s worth the company.

After that, Monday the 7th of September morning cleans up again with a 4ft WNW swell, 9-second period, and clean cross-offshore wind from the south. It’s a nice little drop-off session after the weekend’s size.

So, to sum it up: the first 10 days are mostly a write-off. Your best bet is the glassy morning on Thursday the 3rd of September for clean, smaller waves. But the absolute pick of the pack is the big, clean Sunday morning on the 6th of September. That’s the one that’ll have your heart pumping.

Rusty.

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