South Shields Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s be honest from the get-go: this 16-day window for the South Shields area is a tough one. We’ve got a long stretch of poor surf conditions ahead, so don’t get your hopes up too high. The first real chance for a surf doesn’t appear until mid-month, and even then, it’s not going to be anything to write home about.

The water temp is sitting around 59°F, which is about 2°F warmer than normal for this time of year – a small silver lining if you’re getting wet.

Forget about the first few days; Sunday the 12th and Monday the 13th are a write-off with small, weak, and choppy conditions. The swell is tiny (3ft to 4ft) from the NE with short, weak 6 to 7 second periods, and the wind is all wrong – onshore or cross-onshore. The combined wave energy is very weak, reading only 67 on Sunday and just 121 on Monday morning. It’s just messy.

The whole first week is basically a bust. Tuesday the 14th through to Friday the 17th are all plagued by cross-onshore winds and very minimal swell (1ft to 2ft). Energy levels are pathetic, often dipping into the teens and twenties. It’s not worth paddling out.

Things change a little around the weekend of the 18th and 19th. Saturday the 18th brings a pulse of swell, with heights building to 6ft by the afternoon from the NNE. The energy jumps to 294, which is a moderate level, but the period is a short 7 seconds, and the wind is a fresh cross-onshore at 19 mph, making it lumpy. That’s not surfable. Sunday the 19th is slightly better with a 5ft swell in the morning dropping to 4ft in the afternoon, and by the afternoon the wind goes light onshore (6 mph). Still, with a 7-second period, the quality is poor. This is more of a kite-surf setup than a clean paddle-surf one.

Into the third week, we get a bit of a cleaner setup but the swell vanishes. From Tuesday the 21st through to Saturday the 25th, the wind turns cross-offshore or even offshore, giving clean conditions. The problem? The swell drops to 3ft and smaller, with energy levels barely reaching 61. It’s clean but tiny. Sunday the 26th offers a last little pulse of 4ft swell from the SE, period of 6 seconds, but with moderate cross-offshore winds. It’s clean but weak.

The final days round out clean but flat. No standout sessions here, folks. It’s a blank run for South Shields. Forecasts can always change, so keep an eye on it, but for now, don’t bother.

Rusty.

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