Ocean Beach surf report and forecast
Forecast for the selected hour
Now · 2am
5–6 ft · sets to 8
Poor-FairBest available 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 2am readingSwell, wind, tide, breaker, energy, water
- Swell4.4 ft · 15 s · WMakes the wave: 58% of the energy. Direction at the break.
- 3.5 ft · 8 s · WNWSecondary: 36% of the energy. Direction at the break.
- 1.5 ft · 5 s · WSecondary: 6% of the energy. Direction at the break.
- Wind15 mph from the WNWOnshore to a shoreline facing 264°Strong
- Tide1.0 ft, risingNext high 4.6 ft at 8:27am · NAVD88, NOAA 9414290 observed
- BreakerSpillingBreaks in about 10 ft of water
- Energy733 kJHeight² × period²Punchy
- Water60° · air 57° · UV 0
High confidence.
Best windowAll day (7am–7pm)
No strong window today. Onshore wind all day; lightest 2–3pm.
Against what Ocean Beach likesWhy it is Poor-Fair, not Fair
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 2amOcean Beach — Kelly's Cove, Ocean Beach — Sloat and 3 more
The break
The seafloorSand (seasonal bars)
Shallow is light, deep is dark; contours every few feet; the relief is exaggerated.
- Bottomsand (seasonal bars)
- 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 this3 swells at once, the seafloor is neutral here, where it trips
Read from the current hour (today at 2am). Each number, and what it does to the wave.
3 swells at once
4.4 ft at 15s from the W carrying 58% of the energy, plus 3.5 ft at 8s from the WNW (36%), plus 1.5 ft at 5s from the W (6%).
The long-period train is the one building your wave. It holds the most energy and reaches deepest. The shorter ones cross it, which is what makes the surface look busy and the takeoff shift around. Why period matters more than height
The seafloor is neutral here
Kr 0.98 · 84% 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
1.0 ft of tide; waves are breaking in about 10 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 onshore
15 mph from the WNW, against a shoreline facing 264°.
Pushing into the back of the wave from the sea, making it crumble and break early instead of standing up. Note this is measured against the angle THIS break faces, which is why one spot can be blown out while the one round the headland is fine.
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 Ocean Beach worksThe Pacific window wide open and unforgiving
The Pacific window wide open and unforgiving. Heavy paddle, shifting peaks; the exact spot Surfline's tide-blind rating gets wrong.
- Best tidemedium — the tide is the whole story here (drowns the bars at high)
- Best swellW–NW groundswell
- Suitsintermediate-advanced
3 swell trains in the current hour · How this is calculated
Common questions4 questions about Ocean Beach
- What is the best tide for Ocean Beach?
- Ocean Beach works best on medium — the tide is the whole story here (drowns the bars at 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 Ocean Beach?
- W–NW groundswell suits Ocean 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 Ocean Beach good for beginners?
- Ocean Beach suits intermediate-advanced 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 Ocean Beach?
- sand (seasonal bars). 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 Beach on real 10-foot bathymetry instead of treating the seafloor as a slope.