Ocean City surf report and forecast
Forecast for the selected hour
Now · 1am
6–7 ft · sets to 9
Fair-GoodBest today All day (7am–7pm)
Swell lines up. Wind is the limiting factor.
The wave field solved for this hour on the real seafloor, playing forward. A model, not a camera.
Loads when it comes into view.The wave field solved for this hour on the real seafloor, playing forward. A model, not a camera.
This hour
The 1am readingSwell, wind, tide, breaker, energy, water
- Swell6.5 ft · 8 s · ENEMakes the wave: 93% of the energy. Direction at the break.
- 1.8 ft · 11 s · ESecondary: 7% of the energy. Direction at the break.
- Wind17 mph from the NECross-shore to a shoreline facing 105°Strong
- Tide0.2 ft, risingNext high 0.4 ft at 2:12am · NAVD88, NOAA 8570280 predicted (no live sensor)
- BreakerSpillingBreaks in about 12 ft of water
- Energy261 kJHeight² × period²Punchy
- Water68° · air 57° · UV 0
High confidence.
Best windowAll day (7am–7pm)
Against what Ocean City likesWhy it is Fair-Good, not Good
Preferred tide and swell are surfer-consensus notes for this spot, not yet reviewed against measurements. Wind is judged by the general rule (light or offshore helps). No percent match: these are plain states and reasons.
Nearby at 1amIndian River Inlet, Ship Bottom and 3 more
The break
The seafloorSand along a ten-mile boardwalk beach, groins at the south end
Shallow is light, deep is dark; contours every few feet; the relief is exaggerated.
- Bottomsand along a ten-mile boardwalk beach, groins at the south end
- DepthCUDEM 1/9 arc-second (2019), relative to NAVD88. Depth shown is below the selected hour’s tide.
- CoverageRock reef and headland shapes resolve well. Nearshore sandbars are interpolated flat in this dataset, so a beachbreak’s bar is not in the picture. A tile’s year is its publication, not the survey date.
Why it breaks like thisTwo swells at once, the seafloor spreads it, where it trips
Read from the current hour (today at 1am). Each number, and what it does to the wave.
Two swells at once
6.5 ft at 8s from the ENE carrying 93% of the energy, plus 1.8 ft at 11s from the E (7%).
The shorter, steeper train is carrying most of the energy here, so expect a choppier, less organised lineup than the longest period in the list would suggest on its own. Why period matters more than height
The seafloor spreads it
Kr 0.72 · 86% of modelled rays break.
Energy is fanning outwards over the bottom here, so the wave arrives smaller than the open-ocean swell height suggests. Nothing is wrong with the forecast. The seafloor took the difference. Why two breaks a mile apart differ
Where it trips
0.2 ft of tide; waves are breaking in about 12 ft of water.
A wave breaks when the water gets shallow enough relative to its height, so that depth is a contour on the seafloor, and the tide slides the whole break up and down it through the day. Same swell, different spot, a few hours apart. How the tide moves the break
Wind is cross-shore
17 mph from the NE, against a shoreline facing 105°.
Running across the face rather than into or against it. Less destructive than a straight onshore, but it puts a texture on the wall and can make the peak harder to read.
How Ocean City worksMaryland's entire surf coast is this one barrier island, and…
Maryland's entire surf coast is this one barrier island, and the boardwalk beaches north of the inlet are the workable part of it. Faces east-southeast, so it takes northeast windswell all winter and southeast hurricane swell in late summer. Sandbars are shifty; the peaks move week to week.
- Best tidemid
- Best swellNE–E swell, SE on a hurricane
- Suitsbeginner
2 swell trains in the current hour · How this is calculated
Common questions4 questions about Ocean City
- What is the best tide for Ocean City?
- Ocean City works best on mid tide. Tide matters because depth is what trips a wave: as the water fills in, the break slides shoreward onto a different part of the bottom, and over a shallow bank enough water stops it breaking at all. Our forecast solves each hour at that hour's real water level rather than assuming one.
- What swell direction is best for Ocean City?
- NE–E swell, SE on a hurricane suits Ocean City best. The direction that matters is the one at the break, not the one on the buoy: the seafloor bends swell on its way in, so a spot can work on an angle the open coast is missing. We model that bending for each break rather than reporting the offshore direction.
- Is Ocean City good for beginners?
- Ocean City suits beginner surfers, over sand along a ten-mile boardwalk beach, groins at the south end. That is the wave this bottom makes on an average day, and it moves: the same break is a different proposition on a bigger swell or a different tide, so read the day's forecast rather than the label.
- What is the bottom like at Ocean City?
- sand along a ten-mile boardwalk beach, groins at the south end. It is the reason this break behaves the way it does: the shape of the seabed decides where the swell focuses, where it trips, and whether it spills or pitches. We model Ocean City on real 10-foot bathymetry instead of treating the seafloor as a slope.