36th Street Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s talk about 36th Street. It's a beach and jetty setup, and honestly, for the next 16 days, it's looking pretty grim. We’ve got a long stretch of nothing worth paddling out for. There are a few flickers of life right at the very end, but you’ll have to wait for them.

Through to the end of September, it’s a flat, blown-out mess. The wind is all over the shop, mostly onshore or cross-onshore, with lumps and bumps everywhere. The swell is tiny, rarely getting above 3 ft, and when it does, it's usually short-period slop. The water temp is sitting at a very unusual 77°F, which is 6°F warmer than normal for this time of year, so it feels like a bathtub, but that doesn't help the wave quality. The combined swell energy is weak, barely registering (a max of 70 in that first blip, then mostly in the teens or 20s). We get a few mornings of clean conditions from the 14th, but with only 1 ft of swell, it’s just a lake.

Things get a bit more interesting around the 21st and 22nd of September. There's a spike in swell, with a combined energy jumping into the mid-300s (346 on Tuesday the 22nd morning, for instance) and heights reaching 6 ft. But – and it’s a big but – the wind is howling onshore or cross-onshore, gusting up to 53 mph. With that wind and the short, weak period (5-8 seconds), the quality is going to be terrible. This setup looks way more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing.

The only real glimmer of hope comes right at the tail end of the forecast. On Thursday the 24th of September, we get a morning of offshore wind from the west, clean conditions, and the swell period stretches out to 10 seconds. The swell is small, only 3 ft from the ESE, but the combined energy is a solid 139, which suggests a bit more push than the numbers show. Then, on Friday 25th, there’s a morning session with clean conditions and surfable waves (2 ft, long 9-second period from the east), and the afternoon even has a proper offshore breeze from the WNW, keeping the 2 ft swell clean.

If you’re desperate, the best bet is the very end of the run: the morning of Thursday 24th and Friday 25th. It's not going to be epic, but with clean conditions and a bit of period, you might find a wall or two at the jetty. For the two weeks before that, save your energy. The forecasts can always change, but right now, it’s a long wait.

Rusty.

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