La Jolla Shores surf report and forecast
Forecast for the selected hour
Now · 8am
1 ft
Fair-GoodBest today 8–10am
The swell and size hold it back.
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
- SwellNo train above 0.5 ft
- Wind2 mph from the EOffshore to a shoreline facing 299°Light
- Tide3.5 ft, fallingNext low 3.0 ft at 11:31am · NAVD88, NOAA 9410230 observed
- BreakerPlungingBreaks in about 1 ft of water
- Water73° · air 69° · UV 0
High confidence.
Best window8–10am
Against what La Jolla Shores 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 8amScripps Pier, Boomer Beach (La Jolla Cove) and 3 more
The break
The seafloorSand (gentle, protected)
Shallow is light, deep is dark; contours every few feet; the relief is exaggerated.
- Bottomsand (gentle, protected)
- 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 thisWhere it trips, barely any wind, how the sets come
Read from the current hour (today at 8am). Each number, and what it does to the wave.
Where it trips
3.5 ft of tide; waves are breaking in about 1 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
2 mph from the E, against a shoreline facing 299°.
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 1 min, roughly 4 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. Why period matters more than height
How La Jolla Shores worksSoft, forgiving peaks on a wide sand beach
Soft, forgiving peaks on a wide sand beach. Point La Jolla sits to the SOUTH, so the Shores is shadowed from S/SW swell and only sees the W/NW — which is why it stays small and why every San Diego surf school is here.
- Best tidemid to high
- Best swellW–NW (small)
- Suitsbeginner
1 swell train in the current hour · How this is calculated
Common questions4 questions about La Jolla Shores
- What is the best tide for La Jolla Shores?
- La Jolla Shores 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 La Jolla Shores?
- W–NW (small) suits La Jolla Shores 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 La Jolla Shores good for beginners?
- La Jolla Shores suits beginner surfers, over sand. 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 La Jolla Shores?
- sand (gentle, protected). 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 La Jolla Shores on real 10-foot bathymetry instead of treating the seafloor as a slope.