Southerndown Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here again. Let's talk about Southerndown in feet and miles per hour.

First off, the water is sitting at 70°, which is a whopping 8° warmer than usual for this time of year. That’s a very unusual anomaly, and it feels more like a tropical lagoon than the Bristol Channel. Weird, but nice.

For the first week, from Monday the 17th right through to the end of Sunday the 23rd, it’s a write-off. There's some swell on offer, but the wind is just wrong. It’s a relentless cross-onshore, mostly from the West, and the wave energy is weak (around 48). The swell is tiny, mostly around 1 ft to 3 ft, with a short, wind-swell period of just 6 seconds. You'll find choppy, lumpy conditions and nothing worth paddling out for. There’s a few cleaner moments on Friday the 21st and Saturday the 22nd with light east winds, but the swell drops to a measly 1 ft or even 0.3 ft with almost zero energy (17). It's flat. Don't bother.

Monday the 24th through Friday the 28th of August remains very poor. We see tiny waves, wrong winds, and nothing with any push. It's a long stretch of flat or nearly flat conditions.

Now, looking ahead to Saturday the 29th of August. The morning shows a bit of a pulse. Swell jumps to 6 ft from the WSW, with a moderate period of 9 seconds and the combined energy cranks up to 807 (strong wave energy). The wind is cross from the WNW at 12 mph, which isn’t perfect but it’s the best we’ve seen in a while. The wave comment says it's marginal, but the energy is there. This could be worth a look if you’re desperate for a paddle, but the cross-chop might make it ugly. By the afternoon, the wind swings onshore again and kills it.

Sunday the 30th and Monday the 31st see more swell (4 ft to 7 ft) but with onshore gale-force winds. The wave energy hits 503 on Monday afternoon, but it's a messy, blown-out mess with a short 7-second period. Not surfable.

Into the first of September, Tuesday morning shows a 7 ft WSW swell with 8 seconds and strong energy (645), but again, onshore wind from the SSW. That size and power are only for experts, but the wind will make it a washing machine.

Overall, there is no standout session in this whole 16-day run. The wind just won't cooperate with the swell. The only real highlight is the morning of Saturday the 29th of August where we get a solid 6 ft of cross-shore swell, but it's still marginal at best. For Southerndown, this is a bleak outlook. It’s a fairly exposed spot, so it tends to get surf eventually, but the weather patterns are locking us out for now. Kite surfers might find a window on those windier afternoons, but for a paddle surfer, it's a long wait.

Stay patient.
Rusty.

Read more