South Padre Island Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Ahoy, it's Rusty. Let's have a look at what's on the cards for South Padre Island over the next couple of weeks.

Straight up, I gotta be honest with ya – the next 16 days are looking grim for paddle surfing. The whole stretch is a write-off, I'm afraid. We're looking at a solid blank run with no decent surf on offer. The wind is just relentless, hammering in from the southeast and south-southeast, keeping everything cross-onshore and choppy. It's a real shame because the water's a balmy 83° right now, which is about average for the time of year.

From Saturday the 25th of July right through to Sunday the 9th of August, the story is the same. Swell heights are tiny, mostly between 2ft and 4ft, but that's not the problem – the real killer is the wind. It's blowing anywhere from 9 mph to 25 mph, constantly messing up what little wave energy there is. The combined swell energy is weak, barely cracking 190 on the 5th of August, and mostly sitting in the teens, twenties, and thirties. That's not enough to push through this chop.

Even the odd bump in size, like on Monday the 3rd of August when the swell hits 4ft, is blown out by a 16 mph cross-onshore wind. The period is short, too – mostly 4 to 7 seconds – so these are just windswell slop, no real structure to 'em. For a beach/jetty setup like this, with the wind howling onshore, it's more of a kite-surfing setup than something for a paddle surfer. The break is listed as inconsistent, which is a normal pattern for the area, so this kind of blank run isn't out of the ordinary.

There's no standout, no silver lining. The whole forecast is a dud. If you're desperate for a paddle, you might find a knee-high crumbler on the inside on a morning with a lighter 9 mph breeze, like Sunday the 26th, but it'll be fair-choppy and not worth the drive. Better to leave the boards in the car and wait for a better forecast.

Rusty.

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