Surf on Thursday – Building S swell and touch of WNW

Thursday is looking pretty surfable...it won’t be super consistent but we can expect a bit more size that we have seen over the last couple of days (though Wednesday was fun in a few spots).

We are going to see a building S-SSW swell (180-200) which is actually the precursor to a larger swell that arrives later Friday and peaks Saturday and Sunday. This first little shot of swell is filling in right now and will get a bit more pronounced by Thursday...I actually expect a little more size by Thursday afternoon. We will also have a mix of WNW swell (290-300) holding in the background that could even cross up a few of the reeeeeaaaally exposed combo breaks.


It is nice to see a return of the longer swell-periods...

Tomorrow we can expect surf in the waist-chest high range for most spots that are exposed to at least one of the swells in the water. The better exposed S facing spots or the top NW facing spots can expect chest-shoulder high surf...a little inconsistent on the bigger sets but still fun on the lower tides. The standout breaks, mostly through Orange County and parts of San Diego, will have more consistent chest-shoulder high sets with a few head high waves starting to sneak in by the end of the day.

Weather and winds look a little funky...the morning shouldn’t be too bad...mostly variable winds below 5 knots. Not totally clean but not completely blown out either. Looks like that set up collapses fairly quickly and we see onshore winds build fast by midday and continue to increase into the NW 10-15+ knot range by the afternoon. Funky clouds, and a scattered shower here and there, continue to hold through the area as well.

I think that the S facing spots and the combo breaks are going to be the best call tomorrow...but only if you can get to them early or they have a lot of wind protection (if you are going to surf in the afternoon). Sets are still going to be a bit inconsistent at times, even slower as the tide drains out, but if you are patient there should be a few fun ones. I definitely wouldn’t take the day off or anything but you might want to plan to come into work a little later than normal to take advantage of the lower AM tide.

Here are the tides...

04:45AM LDT -0.1 L
10:39AM LDT 4.7 H
04:45PM LDT 0.3 L
10:52PM LDT 5.3 H