This weekend looks pretty quiet for the most part especially Friday and the first half of Saturday. The lingering NW swell from earlier this week will last through the first half of the weekend before we get a second round of NW combo swell move in Saturday afternoon. Waves peak in size Saturday night with 2-3 ft heights max for west facing beaches.
By Sunday we’ll start to see the swell back off with closer to just 2 ft waves across west faces. Periods on Friday will start out around 14 seconds but gradually shorten through the weekend especially when the winds pick up with the next round of swell moving in. Offshore periods could be as short as 8 seconds but models indicate that nearshore periods could be significantly longer in select locations.
Friday will likely have the calmest winds. They’ll start out coming from the northwest but with speeds under 5 mph nearshore on Friday morning. Winds stay fairly calm out of the northwest through the day Friday as well as most of Saturday before they pick up Saturday evening with the combo swell moving in. Sunday looks fairly calm but we could see speeds pick back up Sunday night.
All around, the weather should be beautiful with no rain in the forecast and partly cloudy skies. Temps near LA will rise into the mid to low-70s each and every afternoon while areas closer to San Diego and Santa Barbara will likely top out in the upper-60s.
Best Bets
- Sunday Morning looks like the best time to surf as waves will be the largest during this time with light winds.
- Saturday morning through mid-afternoon shouldn’t be too far off from Sunday morning as our top pick as winds stay calm and waves look slightly smaller.
- Friday will be a calm day with light winds but waves are only going to be 1 ft in size max.
FRIDAY
So far Friday looks like it should be pretty quiet with lingering NW ground swell from earlier in the week. 1 ft and under waves are expected across the entire coast and that will last all day long. Periods will also stay consistent through the day with 14 seconds on average. Very little will change between the morning and the afternoon in terms of the swell.
The winds also stay under about 5 mph nearshore while further offshore they will be stronger out of the northwest. Nearshore winds shouldn’t be too big of a problem though as they start out very weak in the morning but then pick up slightly, around 10 mph, by the afternoon. Lows start out in the 50s with highs reaching near 70!
SATURDAY
This looks like it should be another calm day especially during the morning hours. Winds start out calm for the day but similar to Friday, we will likely see them pick up slightly out of the northwest for the afternoon. Winds will peak in speed close to sundown which is when the northwest wind and ground swell peaks.
Waves remain small for most of the day but they will gradually increase in size through the afternoon. Everyone will start the morning off with 1-2 ft sized waves but by the late afternoon we’ll see closer to 2 ft average heights with San Diego and Ventura County seeing closer to 3 ft. Unfortunately, period lengths degrade through the day with 10-12 seconds expected on average.
SUNDAY
Like the rest of the weekend, waves remain small with 2 ft heights lasting through the day for all beaches. San Diego could have slightly larger waves closer to 3 ft early in the morning. Sunday night and into Monday morning we could have some Southern Hemi swell move in but that probably won’t be noticeable until Monday morning.
Periods improve through the day with models showing 16 seconds for about half the area by the evening with closer to 8-10 seconds through most of the day. Winds stay calm nearshore until about 4 P.M. when a NW breeze picks up around 10-15 mph. All around the morning looks like the best surf opportunity!
