Surf-Forecast | The Desert Surf Guide

Lat Long: 41.60° S 175.34° E

Issued: 6 am 03 Nov 2026 (local time)

Forecast update in hr min

Today's The Desert sea temperature is

13.6°C

The Desert surf forecast is for near shore open water. Breaking waves will often be smaller at less exposed spots.

Photo by: Rob Davies

The Desert Surf Guide

The Desert in The Wairarapa is an exposed reef break that has fairly consistent surf, although summer tends to be mostly flat. Offshore winds are from the north northwest and there is no shelter here from cross shore breezes. Able to handle light onshore wind Tends to receive a mix of groundswells and windswells and the ideal swell angle is from the southeast. There is no reef break. It very rarely gets crowded here. Hazards include rips, rocks, seals.

The Desert Spot Info

Type:	Rating:	Reliability:	Todays Sea Temp*:
Reef	3	fairly consistent	13.6°C*ocean temperature recorded from satellite

Surfing The Desert:

The best conditions reported for surf at The Desert occur when a Southeast swell combines with an offshore wind direction from the North-northwest.

Hourly Forecast

16 Day Forecast

Explore The Desert Location Map

Interactive The Desert surf break location map. View information about nearby surf breaks, their wave consistency and rating compared to other spots in the region. Current swell conditions from local buoys are shown along with live wind speed and direction from nearby weather stations. Click icons on the map for more detail.

Map Icons:
Break
Live Wave Height (m)
Live Wind Speed (km/h)
Surf Rating (10 Max)
Ocean Swells (m)
Wind Speed (km/h)

Please note that some surf spot locations are approximate to protect their exact location while others are not shown at close zoom level.

The Desert Surf Forecasts:

Hourly Forecast

16 Day Forecast

Todays Surf Summary
Tuesday, 3 November 2026, 13:27 Local Time

m, °C	Tuesday 03
ft, °F	10AM	1PM	4PM	7PM
Wave (m)	SW	SSW	SSW	SSW
Period (s)	12	16	16	15
Wind (km/h)
Wind State	off	off	off	off

What does The Desert look like?

Latest photos from The Desert. Upload your own or view all photos on the gallery page.

Credit: Rob Davies

Tides at The Desert

Current tide and informaton

For Cape Palliser, New Zealand, 6 km from The Desert.

Next High Water: 01:11am | 1.63m

Next Low Water: 07:06pm | 0.22m

NEXT	IS AT (local time)	remaining
high tide
low tide

The Desert Sea Temperature

The water temperature (13.6 °C) at The Desert is quite cool. If the sun shines as we have forecast, it should feel warm enough to surf in a good spring wetsuit. Effective windchill factor of (17.0 °C) will make the air and water feel about the same temperature.

Today, many surfers would wear a spring wetsuit.

Current Temp*: 13.6°C*ocean temperature recorded from satellite