San Diego Surf Forecast: We have peaking SW swell and some wind problems

We are going to have plenty of surf on tap for Friday but unfortunately the eddy circulation is going to spin up a bit overnight and onshore wind texture will be an issue throughout the day.

The SW swell (200-220) that was filling in on Thursday will start to peak on Friday, and turn a little more southerly as it fills in. We will have some minor NW windswell in the background but I don’t expect it to break up much of the SW’er.



Wave heights will be in the chest-shoulder high range for most spots with SW exposure. The top SW facing spots, mostly through North San Diego will have shoulder-head high surf with inconsistent plus sets at the standout breaks. Expect a little inconsistency on the sets sometimes...and watch for shadowing from the nearshore islands. If you surf in one of the shadow areas (that you can see on the CDIP map) expect smaller and less consistent sizes.

Winds are also going to be a bit funky. Local forecasts are showing the eddy circulation spin up again tonight. Look for variable onshore winds...sort of S-SW ...but below 10 knots for the morning. It will be enough to crumble up the more exposed breaks so try and find a spot with some protection. WNW winds 10-15 knots will blow through in the afternoon.



The SW’er was already showing some decent energy on Thursday and these sizes will continue into Friday, getting a little bigger and more consistent. The beach breaks are going to be pretty lined up so if you can’t surf a point or reef, try and find some sort of structure or sandbar to try and break up the lines.

Here are the tides...hope you guys get some.

07:15AM LDT 0.0 L
02:08PM LDT 3.5 H
06:32PM LDT 2.7 L

Make sure to check out the www.socalsurf.com blog for more forecast detail on the rest of SoCal.

Adam Wright
Forecaster
socalsurf.com

San Diego Surf Forecast: More waves for Friday – peaking SW swell

On Friday we are going to see the mix of SW swells (190-220) and some building but still minimal local NW windswell. Check out the CDIP from this afternoon…I am expecting it to be similar…but with a little more westerly angle to the Southern Hemi swell, which will fill in the SD spots a little better than this chart is showing.



Surf will continue to run in the chest-shoulder high range at the average spots. The standout breaks, mostly through Northern San Diego (but sneaking into a few other areas as well), will have sets in the shoulder-head high range. Expect some longer waits between the sets…and slower shape on the higher tides.

Winds look ok tomorrow…the weather is still going to be a little unstable thanks to that upper level low pressure (there is a chance for more thunderstorms) so we might get some fluky winds. If it is clean when you look at it I would get out there because it may switch around pretty fast. Current forecasts are calling for light and variable winds through the morning and then NW winds around 10-15 knots for the afternoon.

We have waves, which is good, but I don’t think this is great swell overall. It will be inconsistent and walled up on the sets for most areas and the few breaks that can handle the longer SW lines will probably be on the crowded side. Points and reefs of North County will be the best call…and then beach breaks with piers or jetties or giant rocks will be a semi-decent fallback spot. Keep in mind that we are probably going to end up sacrificing shape for less people in the water.

Here are the tides…

03:05AM LDT -0.6 L
09:23AM LDT 3.4 H
01:57PM LDT 2.1 L
08:11PM LDT 5.8 H