South Padre Island Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Hey, it's Rusty. Let's be real about what we've got on the table for the next couple of weeks at South Padre Island. It's grim, folks. Real grim. If you're looking for something to get you frothing, you're in the wrong place. The charts are just showing a long stretch of flat, messy surf that's not going to be any fun for anyone on a paddleboard.

The ocean's just got no energy in it. While there's a brief hiccup of life on the 15th, where the combined swell energy gets into the low triple digits (141-168), it's still not enough to make anything of it. That's barely moderate in my book. We're getting these short-period swells out of the ESE and SE, with periods of 4 to 7 seconds. That's all wind-slop, no groundswell, meaning it's going to be choppy and close-out central.

The entire first week is a wash. Starting Friday the 14th, we have weak swell of 0.8m to 0.9m with 25 km/h cross-onshore winds. The surf quality is poor. Saturday the 15th is a bit bigger, but with periods of only 6 to 7 seconds, it's still junky. We're talking 1.1m of weak, sectiony surf being blown out by a 20 km/h cross-on wind. The light winds on the 17th are a tease, but with only 0.5m of swell, there's nothing to even ride.

It stays in the same rut for the next week. The wind fluctuates between a gentle breeze and a fresh breeze, all from an easterly direction, which is onshore and making things lumpy. Swell stays small, under 1m, with that short period until the 19th and 20th, where we see 1.3m and 1.2m but the period drops to just 5 seconds and the wind is blowing 35-40 km/h. That will be an absolute mess. The water temp is about average for this time of year, so that’s one less thing to worry about, but you’ll be paddling in slop.

Moving into the second week, the wind backs off a little, but the swell is still garbage. We're looking at 0.6m to 0.8m walls of nothing with periods of 5 to 6 seconds. The energy is still weak, staying way below 100. The wind turns more onshore from the E, but there's nothing good about that when the waves are that anemic. The most notable thing is on the 26th and 27th, where we get some light breezes out of the N and E, but, again, the swell just isn't there.

I'm telling you, this is one of those blank runs that’s pretty normal for the area. South Padre Island (South-Padre-Island) is inconsistent, and when it goes flat, it can go flat for a while. All signs point to a lot of useless, weak, onshore junk. Honestly, with that cross-onshore wind, the water will be more interesting for the kite crowd than for us surfers. But hey, things can shift. Forecasts are never set in stone, and there’s always hope that something better will pop up. But based on what I'm seeing, this is a good time to wax the board, not the car. I wouldn't get your hopes up.

Rusty.

Read more