South Padre Island Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let’s take a look at what’s cooking down at South Padre Island for the next couple of weeks.

To be straight with you, it’s a pretty bleak outlook. We got a solid 16-day window here, and honestly, there’s not a single session that’s worth paddling out for. The whole run is a bust. The wind is almost always blowing cross-onshore, chopping everything up, and the swell is weak and short-period. It’s just not happening for us.

Starting from Wednesday the 29th of July, it’s all the same story: small, weak swell barely getting out of the double digits for energy, barely hitting 3 feet at best, and the period is a measly 4 to 6 seconds. That’s pure windswell, no push, no power. The wind is a constant fresh to strong breeze out of the SE and SSE, making everything lumpy and messy. That pattern just locks in day after day.

We get a slight break in the wind on Sunday the 2nd of August morning, with a light breeze, but the swell is still tiny at 2 feet and 6 seconds. It’s not enough to do anything with. Then it’s right back to the same cross-onshore chop for the rest of the week and into the next.

The combined swell energy does nudge up to 100 on Thursday the 6th of August, but it’s still a weak, short-period 3 foot SE swell with a moderate breeze ruining it. It’s a “poor surf conditions” label all the way through to the end of the forecast period on the 13th of August.

For a beginner spot that’s exposed and inconsistent, this is a normal dry spell. The water temp is around 83° at the start, which is average for the time of year, but you won't even feel it because you won't be in the water.

I wouldn’t bother. This is more of a kiteboarding window with the constant side-shore winds, but for a paddle surfer, it’s a hard pass. Wind, chop, and no swell—that’s the whole story.

Rusty.

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