15th Street Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let's have a look at what's on the menu for 15th Street over the next couple of weeks.

First off, I gotta be straight with you – it’s a pretty grim stretch ahead. The water is sitting at a warm 73°F, which is a good 5°F warmer than normal for this time of year, so it’ll feel like a bathtub, but that’s about the only bright spot. The swell energy is all over the place, but the quality is just not there. We’re looking at a solid week and a half of less-than-stellar conditions before we even get a glimpse of something half-decent.

The action, if you can call it that, kicks off on Saturday the 5th. We've got a south swell at 5ft, but it's coming in with a cross-onshore breeze from the west-northwest. The combined energy is a hefty 1518, but it’s going to be choppy and messy. That’s the story for the next few days: a mix of cross and cross-onshore winds, keeping the surface lumpy. Sunday the 6th sees the swell pick up to 6ft from the south with a 14-second period, but that northwest wind is going to chop it up again. The energy is still high at 1432, but it’s a frustrating one.

We get a slight break on Monday the 7th with a brief window of offshore wind from the west-northwest in the morning, on a 6ft south-southwest swell. The energy is 1225. That’s the cleanest it’s going to be all week, but the forecast still calls it marginal. By the afternoon, the wind swings back to a cross-onshore. Honestly, for the rest of the first week and into the second, we’re chasing our tails. The swell drops off, the winds stay onshore or cross-shore, and the energy drops below 1000. It’s mostly small, weak, and choppy.

There’s a dead zone from around the 11th of September right through to the 18th. The combined energy drops into the 200s and 300s, with swell heights barely scraping 3ft. The wind is mostly cross or cross-onshore, and the period is dropping. It’s just not surfable, and honestly, the conditions look more interesting for a kite than a paddle board.

Now, here’s the long-range promise. Around the 19th of September, we finally see a pulse. Saturday the 19th morning shows a 5ft swell from the west-northwest, but the period is a short 8 seconds. The energy jumps back up to 853. The wind is offshore from the west, so it should be clean. It’s the best looking window in the whole forecast, but it’s still a week and a half out, so take it with a grain of salt. After that, it sinks back into the 2ft to 3ft range with long-period southwest groundswell, but the energy is just not there.

Bottom line: if you’re desperate, the offshore wind on Monday the 7th morning is your best early bet, but don’t expect much. The real standout, if it materializes, is the 19th of September. It’s a long way off, but it’s the only time the stars might align for a clean session.

Rusty.

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