Black's Beach surf report and forecast
Forecast for the selected hour
Now · 9am
3 ft · sets to 4
GoodBest today 10am–12pm
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 9am readingSwell, wind, tide, breaker, energy, water
- Swell1.5 ft · 18 s · WSWMakes the wave: 99% of the energy. Direction at the break.
- Wind11 mph from the ENEOffshore to a shoreline facing 267°Moderate
- Tide3.5 ft, risingNext high 4.2 ft at 1:15pm · NAVD88, NOAA 9410230 observed
- BreakerPlungingBreaks in about 5 ft of water
- Energy73 kJHeight² × period²Moderate
- Water73° · air 75° · UV 1
High confidence.
Best window10am–12pm
Against what Black's Beach 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 9amScripps Pier, La Jolla Shores and 3 more
The break
The seafloorSand, fed by the head of the La Jolla submarine canyon
Shallow is light, deep is dark; contours every few feet; the relief is exaggerated.
- Bottomsand, fed by the head of the La Jolla submarine canyon
- 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 is neutral here, where it trips
Read from the current hour (today at 9am). Each number, and what it does to the wave.
One swell, uncrossed
1.5 ft at 18s from the WSW 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 is neutral here
Kr 1.04 · 92% of modelled rays break.
Energy arrives roughly as it left deep water: this bottom neither concentrates the swell nor fans it out, so what the buoy sees is close to what you get. Why two breaks a mile apart differ
Where it trips
3.5 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
Wind is offshore
11 mph from the ENE, against a shoreline facing 267°.
Blowing from the land into the face, holding the wave up as it stands. That is what grooms it and gives you the clean, hollow version of this spot.
How the sets come
About one set every 4 min, roughly 12 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 Black's Beach worksThe Scripps and La Jolla submarine canyons run almost to the…
The Scripps and La Jolla submarine canyons run almost to the beach here and focus swell onto the bars, so Black's can be twice the size of everything around it. Steep, hollow, and genuinely heavy on a big day.
- Best tidelow to mid
- Best swellW–NW groundswell
- Suitsadvanced
1 swell train in the current hour · How this is calculated
Common questions4 questions about Black's Beach
- What is the best tide for Black's Beach?
- Black's Beach works best on low to 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 Black's Beach?
- W–NW groundswell suits Black's Beach 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 Black's Beach good for beginners?
- Black's Beach suits advanced surfers, over sand, fed by the head of the La Jolla submarine canyon. 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 Black's Beach?
- sand, fed by the head of the La Jolla submarine canyon. 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 Black's Beach on real 10-foot bathymetry instead of treating the seafloor as a slope.