UPDATED: SEPT 21, 2026 — Wave Rewind: Last week a swell mix picked up Thursday, some punchy lines out there. Died out pretty quickly but there were some cleaner leftovers on Friday.
LOCAL SURFCAST:
First, Tropical storm Fay formed an is way out there. It will not play a role in our weather or surf.
Second, A disturbance north of the Bahamas right now will drift northward and strengthen off Hatteras as a front pushes off the northeast. This will stall the low, and help it to deepen into a powerful storm off Hatteras. The fetch is strong and deep, so I expect a good shot of large NE long period swell to make it down through all of the Palm Beaches. The low may be sub-tropical and get named. It will move slowly north while the fetch gets pushes south and enlarges. The low may stall again off Nova Scotia, which will send more pules of swell down and extend this event into a 5-7 day swell streak. Local winds look good briefly for the start of the swell, then turn onshore through the peak size so you may have to find protection. As the swell fades the wind will fade off too and there could be cleaner times after the weekend going into next week. It'll be interesting to see where are sandbars are and how much sand will move around from the swell to bring us into our wave season!
Daily surf forecast for the Palm Beaches and Treasure Coast:
MONDAY21: Flat.
TUESDAY22: Small building NE swell possible. Knee high at lower tides. Wind light and variable.
WEDNESDAY23: Flat.
THURSDAY24: Flat but possibly some small longer period energy making it down late in the day on the Treasure Coast. Wind NE 10kts.
FRIDAY25: Building longer period NE swell. Size is chest/shoulder+ in the morning then building to head to overhead in the afternoon. We could see cleaner conditions in the morning with the start of the swell, but then wind will come onshore and make it choppy and drifty in the afternoon.
SATURDAY26: Swell peaking at Head to overhead long period NE swell, thick and powerful. The ocean will be ALIVE! Wind on it though so it'll be nautical out there. Wind NE 15-20kts.
SUNDAY27: Swell eases some, but still pretty solid head high with overhead sets in the morning, fading to shoulder-head high in the afternoon. Wind still on it but lighter. Wind ENE 10kts.
MONDAY28: Fading swell but cleaning up as winds die down.
LONG RANGE FORECAST: This swell may get us into October, then there are hints of another front with a good NE fetch starting up around the 7th so the second week of October could have more swell. Front will then start to become more numerous so it looks like our season will be getting going here with winter not far away now!
Tropics outlook: The favored area for end of September and October so we will need to watch for stuff that may pop up in the gulf and the nearshore Atlantic waters to round out the season. I think eventually there will be a last gasp pulse of activity in the gulf and/or the Bahamas to Bermuda area to end the season. It'll probably be more of the home grown-type activity in the gulf, or near the Bahamas as fronts come down and stall at the end of September and in October. El nino along with Saharan dust really did its thing on the season this year. The good news is we should make up for it over the winter where it will be much more active. Storm after storm in the heart of winter will keep waves going all season. It just may have a lot of VAS chop conditions that go with it too, but there will be clean-up times. Stay tuned.
Tides:
----------------------------------
Check and follow my social pages for updates!
Follow Twitter @SurfnWeatherman
Follow my Instagram @Surfnweatherman for current updates and live videos
Like my Facebook page James Wieland - Surfin Weatherman
SNAPCHAT: surfnweatherman
TikTok: @surfnweatherman
