7:15 am:  Smaller surf early on this Friday morning.   And it’s much chillier at beach!  Wave size 1-2  feet with some occasional   larger set waves.   The wind is chilly offshore WNW and expected to be W at 10-15 knots today according to the  marine forecast .   Our local buoy is currently reading 3.0 feet at 10 seconds down in size from yesterdays 3.9 feet at 9 seconds.   The water temperature is measured offshore at 66.6 degrees (again) early this morning.  It’s likely cooler along the breach, estimated at 64 degrees this morning.  You can see the ocean live by viewing The Surf Station Cam Page here.

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8:00 am:  Early morning photos are up box #1 and you can see the waves are way cleaner than it has been.   The offshore winds are doing that.   Cleaner and smaller too as the buoy drops down offshore.   Still some swell though, and if you do not mind the moving in cold, there are some clean lined waves to be had as you can see in the photos.  What the photos do not show you is it is now less consistent with more of a wait between sets than it has been.  As the wind picks up offshore it will most liley beat down the swell.   The early morning surfer likely will, or has already caught it best…

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10:45 am:  Here is a video/audio surf report from the beach . New YouTube surf report here.

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3:00 pm:   New photos are up box #2 and you can see it’s clean withe offshore winds.   The photos are from this morning and we though it would get smeller but the buoy has ticked upward some.   Will it get bigger or smaller the rest of the day?   Well, you can check this cam page for a live look and see….

After a fun work week of waves with mild weather and lighter wind, a strong cold front will sweep away the leftovers on Friday, setting up a bone-in-the-teeth blue norther that will kick in for Saturday. Wind will quickly rotate onshore on by Sunday, adding size to the surf early in the week leading up to Christmas. Looking way ahead, Dean extended the Surf Station Surf Forecast through the end of 2024, with a long-shot call for a moderate-size, multi-day hyper-long period (14-15 sec) ground swell (with offshore winds) arriving to start the New Year.

Here is a good link to accurately track real-time, near-shore wave height/period/direction and water temperature just off the NE Florida coast: the Fernandina Beach buoy. Located upstream (to the north) and closer to the coast than the St. Augustine buoy, it’s a good indicator of fluctuations in NE Florida surf conditions influenced by winter cold fronts. Here is an overview of a large-scale, real-time wind map to track the shifting winds associated with the fronts and lows that produce our waves.