New Smyrna Inlet surf report and forecast
Forecast for the selected hour
Now · 11am
9–11 ft · sets to 14
FairBest today All day (1–7pm)
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 11am readingSwell, wind, tide, breaker, energy, water
- Swell10.1 ft · 12 s · NEMakes the wave: 100% of the energy. Direction at the break.
- Wind22 mph from the NNEOnshore to a shoreline facing 73°Gale
- Tide-0.6 ft, risingNext high 1.2 ft at 3:41pm · NAVD88, NOAA 8721147 predicted (no live sensor)
- BreakerSpillingBreaks in about 16 ft of water
- Energy1284 kJHeight² × period²Heavy
- Water81° · air 77° · UV 2
High confidence.
Best windowAll day (1–7pm)
Against what New Smyrna Inlet likesWhy it is Fair, not Fair-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 11amCocoa Beach Pier, Sebastian Inlet (First Peak) and 3 more
The break
The seafloorSand against the inlet jetty
Shallow is light, deep is dark; contours every few feet; the relief is exaggerated.
- Bottomsand against the inlet jetty
- DepthCUDEM 1/9 arc-second (2018), 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 11am). Each number, and what it does to the wave.
One swell, uncrossed
10.1 ft at 12s from the NE 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 1.00 · 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
-0.6 ft of tide; waves are breaking in about 16 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
22 mph from the NNE, against a shoreline facing 73°.
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 New Smyrna Inlet worksSand stacked against the south side of Ponce Inlet makes the…
Sand stacked against the south side of Ponce Inlet makes the most consistent sandbar in Florida, working on swell too small for anywhere else on the coast. It is also, by shark-bite statistics, the most bitten stretch of water in the world — almost all of them minor.
- Best tidemid to high
- Best swellE–NE swell; any east angle works
- Suitsintermediate
1 swell train in the current hour · How this is calculated
Common questions4 questions about New Smyrna Inlet
- What is the best tide for New Smyrna Inlet?
- New Smyrna Inlet 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 New Smyrna Inlet?
- E–NE swell; any east angle works suits New Smyrna Inlet 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 New Smyrna Inlet good for beginners?
- New Smyrna Inlet suits intermediate surfers, over sand against the inlet jetty. 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 New Smyrna Inlet?
- sand against the inlet jetty. 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 New Smyrna Inlet on real 10-foot bathymetry instead of treating the seafloor as a slope.