Back To Back NW Short Period Swells This Week - SoCal

As mentioned, the strongest winds coming in with the two swells this week should stay concentrated far enough offshore to keep the coast largely unaffected. This is true for almost the entire week except Monday evening when an onshore breeze around 15 mph is expected. A weaker onshore breeze is possible during the afternoon hours for the rest of the week although speeds don't look quiet as strong. We may be able to escape the winds, but unfortunately, we can't say the same for the short periods. The swell over this week looks to have periods averaging around or less than 10 seconds through Thursday.

Best Bets

- Tuesday morning should have the best waves along with overall nice conditions for San Diego and Ventura.

- Monday afternoon and evening may have slightly larger waves in the same two locations although it could be a bit windy. 

- Wednesday morning looks quiet nice as a second wind swell moves in Tuesday night, leaving decent waves for Wednesday along with light winds. 

MONDAY

The morning starts off with growing waves across west-facing shorelines as the wind swell moves in. Models are indicating 3-4 ft waves early Monday morning off the coast of San Diego with 3-foot waves again possible for the west facing beach of Ventura/Oxnard. Morning periods look poor at around 9 seconds for almost everyone except along south-facing shorelines which won't be affected by this swell.

The swell increases through the day with evening waves slightly larger than morning waves. We could get close to seeing 5-foot heights near San Diego with Ventura/Oxnard getting close to 4 footers. However, other than these two locations, waves look small at around 1-2 feet on average. Periods look slightly improved at around 11 seconds with an onshore breeze expected in the evening at around 10-15 mph.

TUESDAY

The wind swell starts coming down Monday night and we'll be left with slightly smaller waves by Tuesday morning. San Diego should still hold on to 4-foot heights, but I think it's safe to say that 5-footers are out of the question by this point. It looks like the west-facing coast of Ventura/Oxnard will hold on to 3-foot waves for Tuesday morning making for another decent surf opportunity.

Waves come down through the morning and early afternoon but begin increasing by 3 pm or so. This is due to another wind swell entering the region, bringing with it a small resurgence in wave heights. San Diego could see a return to 5-foot heights with Ventura probably getting close to 4-feet once again. This swell, similar to the first, comes with somewhat choppy conditions so periods will end up staying pretty short at under 10 seconds.

WEDNESDAY

The swell starts coming down by Wednesday morning although we should still see 4-foot waves near San Diego and 3-foot waves near Ventura. Waves slowly come down through the evening before they rapidly drop off by Thursday morning. This means that we should have several hours of decent surfing on Wednesday, especially in the morning. Remember, periods stay relatively short so surfing won't quite be perfect, but conditions should still be decent.

Waves slowly drop through the afternoon, but a more rapid decline is expected by the time the sun goes down. San Diego and Ventura should keep 3–4-foot waves through about 6 pm which will make for another nice surf opportunity. Winds look light through most of the day aside from a weak onshore breeze expected in the afternoon and evening.

THURSDAY

This looks like a pretty calm day. The wind swell from earlier in the week dies off almost completely by Thursday morning. The entire coastline, except possibly San Diego, is looking at just 1–2-foot waves. San Diego could hold on to 3 footers for the morning but even this likely won't last for long. Periods continue to stay weak through Thursday morning at about 10 seconds for most.

Waves don't change a whole lot from morning to evening. Heights should stay about the same at around 2 feet or so. South-facing shorelines are looking at just 1 foot waves. Winds at least look pretty light and we should have better surf the upcoming weekend.