JBay Open forecast

Official Surfline forecast Wed night 16 July

BRIEF OVERVIEW: Small scale surf prevails Thursday, with building surf on Friday. A very solid SSW swell is looking more and more likely to peak on Saturday, with favorable wind, before fading Sun/Mon.  

THURSDAY 17th: Minor SSW swell leftovers 
SURF: Dropping mainly to waist high and below.  
WIND: Trending toward offshore W, especially through the late morning/afternoon. Variable and breezy at times.  

FRIDAY 18th: New pulse of SW swell building; storm dependent, stay tuned 
SURF:  Building to 4-6’+ faces and possibly up to a couple/few feet overhead by the evening. This is dependent on storm formation/behavior in the next 48+ hours so stay tuned.  
WIND: Breezy WNW/NW wind in the morning shifting to the W/WSW through the afternoon 

SATURDAY 19th: Very solid new SSW groundswell fills in; storm dependent, stay tuned 
SURF: Good potential for well overhead to double overhead+ surf and even larger. This is highly dependent on storm development/behavior in the next couple days. Stay tuned.  
WIND: Strong offshore W wind.   

SUNDAY 20th: Strong SSW groundswell easing through the day; storm dependent, stay tuned 
SURF: Good potential for surf to remain solidly overhead, but easing from Saturday. Stay tuned.  
WIND: Decreasing much lighter offshore W shifting SW wind. Stay tuned.  

MONDAY 21st: SSW groundswell fading 
SURF: Down further from Sunday, but still potential for overhead waves in the morning.  
WIND: Light/variable to light offshore flow in the morning, trending light to moderate onshore/E in the afternoon.  

Long Range Surf Outlook 
Small SSW swell leftovers prevail Thursday.  

Confidence continues to grow that we’ll see a significant SSW swell move in and peak on Saturday before easing Sunday. This swell will be from a good looking low pressure/high pressure combo now developing about 2000 miles south-southwest of J-Bay that is forecast to take a favorable track toward South Africa in the next 48 hours.  

Assuming the storm behaves as forecast we will see a building trend through the day on Friday, with overhead sets pushing in for the afternoon and especially evening. Saturday will see the peak of the swell with well overhead to double overhead+ surf at J-Bay and good potential for even larger waves. Sunday will see easing, but still very strong surf.  

By Monday surf will be down further- although still overhead on the sets- with onshore wind developing for the afternoon.   

Stay tuned, we’ll continue to refine this forecast over the next couple days as we watch this storm develop and we’re able to gather data on it.  

Local Wind and Weather 
Offshore westerly wind will return over Thursday afternoon. For Friday we’ll see more of a NW/WNW tilt to the wind in the morning (as our swell producing storm approaches the region), before shifting to the W over the afternoon and strong/breezy levels.  

Strong offshore/W wind prevails Saturday before backing down Sunday. At this point wind for Monday will start off light/variable or weakly offshore, before moderate onshore/E wind builds for the afternoon.