Surf City Pier Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s talk about the next stretch, Surf City. I’ve been staring at the charts for this upcoming period and, to be honest, it’s a bit of a flat, mushy spell for us. There are no real standouts here in the 16-day window, so we’re going to have to work for whatever we get.

The water temp is sitting at 82°, which is right about where it should be for this time of year. No weird anomalies to talk about, just typical warm summer water.

The next week and a half are pretty grim. We’re looking at a lot of small, weak swell with periods in that short, crumbly 8-9 second range. The wind is almost always from the south or southeast, which means it's cross-onshore or onshore, making things choppy and messy. Energy values are mostly in that weak two-digit range, like 20 to 80, telling you there's just not much push out there.

There’s a little bump in size on Sunday the 23rd, with a swell to 4 ft, but it comes with a 6-second period and a cross-onshore wind at 16 mph. That’s just a junky, blown-out mess. Not worth your time.

Now, there’s a brief moment on Monday morning the 24th. The wind goes light and glassy from the north, and we get knee-to-waist high waves at 2 ft. It’s surfable, but it’s not going to win any awards. The energy is still weak at 71, so it’s just those soft, gentle rollers. For a beginner or someone with a longboard, it could be fun, but for most, it’s a grovel.

After that, we’re back to the doldrums until the end of the month. There’s a slight pulse of energy on the 27th and 28th, with swell heights around 4 ft to 5 ft and energy values climbing into the low 200s. But, and it's a big but, the period is still a short 6 seconds and the wind is mostly onshore or cross-onshore with a chance of thunderstorms. This is lots of whitewater and bumpy conditions. It's not going to be clean.

The last day of any note is the morning of Monday, August 31st. It’s looking the cleanest with a light cross-offshore wind from the northeast, and 2 ft of swell. The combination of the wind and the long period ESE swell (9 seconds) might actually set up a few better lines than what we've seen, especially on the sandbars. But it's still small.

Honestly, the last week of August and the start of September look like a write-off for any quality surfing. It’s a lot of waiting for the wind to clock around to the north or northwest, and it just doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen in this window. The consistent message from the data is that we're in a lull. But this is the Jersey coast; it can turn on a dime. A hurricane or a proper low pressure system can spin up some groundswell with almost no notice. So, keep your eye on the horizon, but don’t get your hopes up for the next 16 days.

Rusty, signing off.

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