Lunada Bay surf report and forecast
Forecast for the selected hour
Now · 8am
3 ft · sets to 4
GoodBest today 8–11am
Nothing is clearly limiting, but the swell is near, not in, its window and it is modest in size.
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 8am readingSwell, wind, tide, breaker, energy, water
- Swell1.6 ft · 15 s · WMakes the wave: 92% of the energy. Direction at the break.
- Wind3 mph from the SSECross-shore to a shoreline facing 256°Light
- Tide3.7 ft, fallingNext low 3.0 ft at 11:46am · NAVD88, NOAA 9410840 observed
- BreakerPlungingBreaks in about 5 ft of water
- Energy59 kJHeight² × period²Moderate
- Water73° · air 66° · UV 0
High confidence.
Best window8–11am
Against what Lunada Bay likesWhy it is Good, not Epic
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 8amHaggertys, Torrance Beach and 3 more
The break
The seafloorRock reef under the Palos Verdes bluffs
Shallow is light, deep is dark; contours every few feet; the relief is exaggerated.
- Bottomrock reef under the Palos Verdes bluffs
- DepthCUDEM 1/9 arc-second (2022), 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 thisOne swell, uncrossed, the seafloor focuses it, where it trips
Read from the current hour (today at 8am). Each number, and what it does to the wave.
One swell, uncrossed
1.6 ft at 15s from the W and nothing significant crossing it.
A single train is the cleanest case there is: the sets arrive from one angle, so the peak should sit in the same place each time instead of wandering. Why period matters more than height
The seafloor focuses it
Kr 1.06 · 78% of modelled rays break.
Contours underneath are bending wave energy together into a band. That concentration is the peak, and it's why this spot can be noticeably bigger than its neighbours on the same swell. Why two breaks a mile apart differ
Where it trips
3.7 ft of tide; waves are breaking in about 5 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
Barely any wind
3 mph from the SSE, against a shoreline facing 256°.
Too light to shape the face either way. At this speed the wave's own texture wins, whatever the direction.
How the sets come
About one set every 3 min, roughly 10 waves in it.
Swell arrives in groups, not evenly. That spacing is what you are really timing your paddle-out to, and it's why the lineup can look flat for minutes and then produce five waves at once.
How Lunada Bay worksA big-wave point reef below the Palos Verdes cliffs that only…
A big-wave point reef below the Palos Verdes cliffs that only wakes on a solid NW — it can hold well overhead when everything else in the bay is closed out. Notorious for organised localism, including litigated harassment of visitors.
- Best tidemid to high
- Best swellbig NW groundswell
- Suitsexpert
1 swell train in the current hour · How this is calculated
Common questions4 questions about Lunada Bay
- What is the best tide for Lunada Bay?
- Lunada Bay works best on mid to high 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 Lunada Bay?
- big NW groundswell suits Lunada Bay 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 Lunada Bay good for beginners?
- Lunada Bay suits expert surfers, over rock reef under the Palos Verdes bluffs. 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 Lunada Bay?
- rock reef under the Palos Verdes bluffs. 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 Lunada Bay on real 10-foot bathymetry instead of treating the seafloor as a slope.