Torrance Beach/Burn Out Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let me level with you: the next couple of weeks are looking like a bust. For most of this 16-day stretch, the waves are flat or a total mess. There’s a long dry spell, with only a few tiny windows that might give you something to push. The water is sitting at 73°, which is way warmer than normal for this time of year—feels more like a bathtub than the ocean.

We start off dry. For the first seven days, from the 1st through the 7th of August, it’s mostly tiny, weak, and ugly. Swell heights are barely scraping 2 to 2 feet, with a long period of 13 to 19 seconds coming from the SSW or SW, but the wind is just all wrong—mostly cross-onshore, sometimes straight onshore. That south-southwest groundswell has the energy to make a wave, but it’s getting chopped up and trashed. The combined energy is weak to moderate (141-233), but it’s paired with comments like “poor surf conditions” or “marginal.” There’s nothing worth your time.

Now, the first real standout, and I mean the *only* real standout in this whole forecast, comes on Saturday the 8th of August. The morning session at Torrance Beach/Burn Out is your best bet. We’ve got a 2-foot SSW groundswell with a solid 17-second period, and the combined energy is moderate at 211. The big win here? The wind is a light 9 mph from the SSE, giving us a cross-offshore breeze. That’s clean, glassy-ish conditions. It’s a brief moment of calm in a storm of onshores. Crowds are often at this spot, so don’t be shocked if a few other guys have the same idea. This is the morning to get wet.

After that, it’s back to the grind. The 9th and 10th of August offer a *slightly* better wind again from the SSE in the mornings, but the swell is the same tiny stuff, 2 feet, and the energy drops off (146 and 174). It’s surfable but very ordinary. By the 11th, we’re back to near-flat and dirty.

Looking further out, there’s another potential window on Friday the 14th of August. The morning shows a similar setup: 1 feet of SSW swell at 18 seconds, a light cross-offshore breeze from the SSE, and a good moderate energy reading of 234. It’s classified as “expect good surf conditions,” but the swell is tiny. Promising, but with the size that small, it’s more for a longboard and a wish than a real session. The afternoon sees the swell build a touch to 2 feet, but then a 12 mph onshore wind from the WSW ruins it again, pushing the energy up to 322—that’s just messy, choppy power.

The last couple of days, the 15th and 16th, have a bit more size—up to 2 feet—but the period drops to 15-16 seconds and the wind is either cross or onshore. It looks like it’ll be a lumpy, poor-quality affair, not worth the drive.

So to wrap it up: the first week is a write-off. Your one shot is the early session on the 8th, with a secondary, less certain look on the morning of the 14th. The rest of the time, it’s flat or blown out. The ocean’s warm, but she’s not giving us much to work with.

Rusty.

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