Stockton Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s get into this one. I’ve gotta be straight with you – this 16-day window is a tough stretch for the Stockton (beach/jetty) area. The surf is pretty much flat for days on end, with tiny, weak swells that just don’t have any push. We’re talking waves mostly around 0.7 ft to 2 ft, with poor surf conditions flagged for almost the entire run. There’s a gap of about a week where there’s almost nothing worthwhile to get excited about.

Right off the bat, from Monday the 24th right through to Wednesday the 3rd of September, it’s a real grind. The swell heights barely tickle the 3 ft mark, and the combined energy is often in the low double digits or triple-digit range only when the wind is howling and making a mess of things. The water temp on Monday the 24th morning is sitting at 77°F, marked as a touch warmer than normal for this time of year, but with surf that small, you’re not missing much.

Even when there’s a little more energy, like on the 2nd of September afternoon with a combined energy reading of 303 (moderate wave energy), it’s paired with an 19 mph cross-off wind and still called poor surf conditions. The swell direction is mostly SE or SSE, and the optimum direction for Stockton is SE, so the angle is okay, but the size, short periods, and messy wind just kill it.

You do get a brief window on the 7th of September. Monday morning and afternoon look like the only real standouts in the whole outlook. The swell is from the ESE at around 3 ft, with a period of 9 to 10 seconds. The morning has a moderate offshore wind from the NNE at 12 mph, giving clean conditions, and by the afternoon it goes glassy with a NNE breeze of just 3 mph. The combined energy is 175 (moderate) in the morning and 132 (moderate) in the afternoon. It’s surfable, but just ordinary. For this stretch, that’s as good as it gets.

The rest of the second week – from the 4th of September into the 8th – is mostly clean due to cross-off winds from the NE, but the swell is either tiny, very short period, or just not holding together. The 4th and 5th see some bigger numbers in combined energy (up to 260 and 353) but those are from short-period wind swell (6 to 7 seconds), and with wave heights around 3 ft to 5 ft, it’s too short and weak to make for good paddling. It’s more of a kite-surfing setup than a paddle-surfing one.

So if you’re hanging out for a wave, the 7th of September is your best bet, and even then it’s not a day to call in sick for. The water’s likely still around the same temp by then. It’s a long, dry spell for surfers here, but that’s not unusual for the area when the conditions line up like this.

Rusty.

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