Thurso East Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here, looking at the charts for the next couple of weeks.

To be straight with you, the next week or so is looking pretty grim. There’s a big stretch of poor conditions with onshore wind messing things up at Thurso East. We’re talking about a real dry spell from Saturday the 15th all the way through to the middle of the following week. Don’t bother paddling out unless you’re after a fight with the wind and lumpy water. The swell energy is weak to moderate at best, with combined readings hanging around the 130 to 244 mark, but it’s all pretty chopped up.

Monday morning the 17th, you might see a tiny chance with a clean window, but the wave is tiny at 2 ft from the North, period a short 7 seconds. It’s just not worth getting wet for.

The first real glimmer of hope shows up on Wednesday afternoon the 19th. We get a bit of a turnaround – a solid 5 ft swell from the West with an 11-second period, and the wind switches to a light cross-offshore breeze from the East. That's the kind of combo that could clean things up and offer some proper shape. The combined energy is a healthy 593, so there’s some push behind it. It’s still a little questionable on the morning side, but that afternoon session could be worth a look.

But the true stand-out, the one you really want to circle on the calendar, is Tuesday the 25th. Tuesday morning, it’s glassy with a 5 ft West swell, a solid 11-second period, and nearly 0 wind from the ENE. The combined wave energy is pumping at 666 – that’s proper juice. Tuesday afternoon only gets better: 6 ft, a 12-second period, 760 combined energy, and a light cross-off breeze. This is the pick of the entire 16-day window. The swell direction from the West is nicely aligned with the optimum for Thurso East, which is from the NNW. It’s a point break, so a long-period groundswell like that will wrap in nicely without closing out like a beachie might.

Keep in mind, the water temp anomaly is unremarkable, so the water is about what you’d expect for this time of year at Thurso. Also, this is an expert-level wave that can get crowded sometimes, so be prepared for company if the forecast holds.

After that, we see a drop-off again into the end of the month with the wind coming back onshore and the swell jumping up to huge sizes – 10 ft on the 28th, but with 35 km/h cross-onshore winds it’ll be a washing machine. That’s more of a kite-surfing setup than anything for a paddle.

So, there’s a long wait, but keep your eyes on the 19th afternoon, and absolutely be ready for Tuesday the 25th. That’s the one that could be special.

Rusty.

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