36th Street Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, grab a coffee, because this one’s a bit of a flat spell. We’re looking at 36th Street for the next couple of weeks, and to be brutally honest, there’s not much to get excited about. The whole 16-day forecast is a real struggle for surf. There are no standouts, just a lot of small, weak, and often messy conditions. We’re looking at a blank run that covers the entire first week and beyond, so don’t be in a rush to get the board wet.

For Sunday the 5th into Monday the 6th, the water temp is sitting at a very unusual 77°, which is much warmer than normal for this time of year. The only real whisper of anything happens around Tuesday the 7th, where we see the biggest swell of the whole period. On Tuesday morning, we get a wave height of 3ft from the ENE, with a period of 7 seconds. The combined energy is still weak, barely hitting 84. By Tuesday afternoon, it bumps up slightly to 4ft from the same direction, with a period of 6 seconds and energy at 95. The wind is cross-offshore from the NNE and NE, so it’ll be clean, but the wave quality is still poor. This is the closest thing to a highlight, but it’s really just a small, weak windswell. For perspective, the combined swell energy never breaks into the three-digit range at any point in the entire forecast, which tells you how weak everything is.

Now, if you’re a beginner, nothing here is too big – we never even hit 5ft. But the problem is there’s nothing with any push. The waves are consistently short-period and lack any real energy. There are a few moments with glassy conditions on Monday morning and Friday the 10th morning, but with wave heights of 2ft and 1.0ft respectively and energy at 31 and 19, it’s barely a ripple. The set-up at 36th Street is a beach and jetty, and with this kind of small, onshore chop on many days, this spot would honestly be more interesting for a kite surfer than a paddle surfer. Consistency is described as "fairly consistent," but it doesn’t matter when the surf is this poor.

In the second week, from around the 14th onward, the trend doesn’t change. We see a little spike in wind on Tuesday the 14th afternoon with clean conditions from a cross-offshore WSW wind at 19 mph, but the wave height is only 2ft with energy at 41. There are more offshore wind days around the 19th and 20th, but the wave heights stay between 2ft and 2ft with periods of 4 to 5 seconds. The energy remains weak, and the forecast is less certain that far out, so don’t pin any hopes on it. The surf quality is consistently labeled as "poor" from start to finish. There are no standout breaks or days worth driving for. This is just one of those stretches where the ocean is taking a nap.

Keep an eye on it, but this one’s a write-off for paddling. Forecasts can change, but for now, it’s a hard pass.

Rusty

Read more