Malibu · Today

Zuma

LA County surf-zone forecast; official range: 2–4 ft

Updated Tue, Sep 22, 4:30 PM PDT

When to go

Around 6:00 PM

Windy · Moderate confidence

2.3–2.3 ft · Coastal waves · not surf height

Wind: 10.8 kt · cross-shore

Forecast details

Waves are forecast to reach this beach.
This is the best time in the forecast, though wind may make it choppy.

Other wind windows

Plan around the wind

The best available upcoming daylight wind sample to compare with the wave evidence. This compares wind only; wave size, tide suitability, and hazards can change your choice.

5:00 PM–6:00 PM · America/Los_Angeles
Unfavorable wind · up to 11.4 kt · reported gusts up to 13.8 kt
Caution: This is the best available wind comparison, not a favorable-wind label. The selected wind is unfavorable for this break.
Coastal waves at about 10 m depth: 2.3–2.3 ft across the period. Surf height unavailable. Tide data available; check the local tide response.
Wind source time: Sep 22, 4:30 PM PDT. This is not the model run issue time.

How these periods are chosen

The planner prefers three consecutive hourly samples covering two daylight hours, but retains shorter one- or two-sample evidence when that is all the forecast provides. Light wind means at most 6 kt. Moderate offshore means at most 12 kt from land toward the sea when shore orientation is verified. Strong wind or known gusts of 20 kt or more remain visible as cautions instead of making the entire comparison disappear. These are comparison labels, not locally tested surf-quality or safety ratings. Missing gusts remain unknown. Terrain shelter, currents, closures, and your ability are not assessed.

Wind W 11.4 kt

Tide 4 ft rising

Wave, wind and tide details

CDIP coastal waveSSW 2.3 ft @ 18sECMWF forecast valid Sep 22, 5:00 PM PDTL1062 · significant wave height at 10.0 m depth · not breaking surfCDIP issued Sep 22, 2:38 PM PDT · upstream model cycle not providedSpectral split: ≥10 s 2.0 ft · <10 s 1.1 ft

Coastal period bands

20 s and longer: 0.6 ft · energy-weighted direction 207°14–20 s: 1.5 ft · energy-weighted direction 209°10–14 s: 1.2 ft · energy-weighted direction 207°Under 10 s: 1.1 ft · energy-weighted direction 237°Band heights combine as energy, not by addition. Period bands are not separately identified swell systems. Forecast omits wave periods shorter than about 4 s.

Offshore model swell— Unavailable No usable model swell value for this hour

Model windOpen-Meteo · requested at 34.017, -118.831; not a local anemometerW 11.4 ktcross-shoreValid 2026-09-22 17:00 · America/Los_Angeles6.5 kt onshore component

Tide4 ftrisingSanta Monica station 9410840 · regional proxy, interpolated between station extrema · predicted height relative to MLLW59% of adjacent local low–high range · descriptive, not a safety rating

Surf height unavailable. Coastal and offshore waves are not breaking-wave heights.

Coastal waves and wind

CDIP significant wave height at about 10 m depth. Gaps remain gaps; no breaking-wave range is implied.

Buoy-driven nowcast for available past hours; labeled coastal forecasts for future hours. Changes of source can cause discontinuities. Values and source labels are listed below.Wind arrows point from the reported direction

Hourly forecast

Hourly surf forecast for Zuma
Time	Coastal waves · ~10 m	Wind	Tide	Offshore swell
12 AM	SSW 2.8 ft @ 17s	NNE 4.1 ktoffshore	1.5 ftfalling	— Unavailable
1 AM	SSW 2.8 ft @ 17s	ENE 3.9 ktoffshore	1 ftfalling	— Unavailable
2 AM	SSW 2.8 ft @ 17s	E 3.1 ktoffshore	0.5 ftrising	— Unavailable
3 AM	SSW 2.8 ft @ 17s	E 3.9 ktcross-shore	1 ftrising	— Unavailable
4 AM	SSW 2.7 ft @ 17s	E 4 ktoffshore	1.5 ftrising	— Unavailable
5 AM	SSW 2.6 ft @ 17s	ENE 4 ktoffshore	2 ftrising	— Unavailable
6 AM	SSW 2.6 ft @ 17s	NE 4 ktoffshore	3 ftrising	— Unavailable
7 AM	SSW 2.6 ft @ 17s	NE 2.6 ktoffshore	3.5 ftrising	— Unavailable
8 AM	SSW 2.5 ft @ 17s	NE 3 ktoffshore	4 ftnear high	— Unavailable
9 AM	SSW 2.5 ft @ 17s	SSE 1.4 ktcross-shore	4 ftfalling	— Unavailable
10 AM	SSW 2.5 ft @ 18s	SW 3.3 ktonshore	3.5 ftfalling	— Unavailable
11 AM	SSW 2.4 ft @ 18s	WSW 7 ktonshore	3.5 ftfalling	— Unavailable
Noon	SSW 2.4 ft @ 18s	W 9 ktonshore	3 ftfalling	— Unavailable
1 PM	SSW 2.4 ft @ 18s	W 11.3 ktcross-shore	2.5 ftnear low	— Unavailable
2 PM	SSW 2.4 ft @ 18s	W 11.4 ktonshore	2.5 ftrising	— Unavailable
3 PM	SSW 2.3 ft @ 18s	W 12.1 ktcross-shore	3 ftrising	— Unavailable
4 PM	SSW 2.3 ft @ 18s	W 11.9 ktcross-shore	3.5 ftrising	— Unavailable
5 PM	SSW 2.3 ft @ 18s	W 11.4 ktcross-shore	4 ftrising	— Unavailable
6 PM	SSW 2.3 ft @ 18s	W 10.8 ktcross-shore	4.5 ftrising	— Unavailable
7 PM	SSW 2.4 ft @ 17s	W 8.1 ktcross-shore	5 ftnear high	— Unavailable
8 PM	SSW 2.4 ft @ 17s	WNW 7.2 ktcross-shore	5 ftfalling	— Unavailable
9 PM	SSW 2.5 ft @ 17s	WNW 6.4 ktcross-shore	4 ftfalling	— Unavailable
10 PM	SSW 2.5 ft @ 17s	W 5.3 ktcross-shore	3.5 ftfalling	— Unavailable
11 PM	SSW 2.6 ft @ 17s	W 3.9 ktonshore	2.5 ftfalling	— Unavailable

12 AM2.8 ft coastal waves

SSW 17s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindNNE 4.1 ktoffshoreTide1.5 ftfallingOffshore swell— Unavailable

1 AM2.8 ft coastal waves

SSW 17s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindENE 3.9 ktoffshoreTide1 ftfallingOffshore swell— Unavailable

2 AM2.8 ft coastal waves

SSW 17s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindE 3.1 ktoffshoreTide0.5 ftrisingOffshore swell— Unavailable

3 AM2.8 ft coastal waves

SSW 17s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindE 3.9 ktcross-shoreTide1 ftrisingOffshore swell— Unavailable

4 AM2.7 ft coastal waves

SSW 17s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindE 4 ktoffshoreTide1.5 ftrisingOffshore swell— Unavailable

5 AM2.6 ft coastal waves

SSW 17s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindENE 4 ktoffshoreTide2 ftrisingOffshore swell— Unavailable

6 AM2.6 ft coastal waves

SSW 17s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindNE 4 ktoffshoreTide3 ftrisingOffshore swell— Unavailable

7 AM2.6 ft coastal waves

SSW 17s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindNE 2.6 ktoffshoreTide3.5 ftrisingOffshore swell— Unavailable

8 AM2.5 ft coastal waves

SSW 17s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindNE 3 ktoffshoreTide4 ftnear highOffshore swell— Unavailable

9 AM2.5 ft coastal waves

SSW 17s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindSSE 1.4 ktcross-shoreTide4 ftfallingOffshore swell— Unavailable

10 AM2.5 ft coastal waves

SSW 18s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindSW 3.3 ktonshoreTide3.5 ftfallingOffshore swell— Unavailable

11 AM2.4 ft coastal waves

SSW 18s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindWSW 7 ktonshoreTide3.5 ftfallingOffshore swell— Unavailable

Noon2.4 ft coastal waves

SSW 18s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindW 9 ktonshoreTide3 ftfallingOffshore swell— Unavailable

1 PM2.4 ft coastal waves

SSW 18s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindW 11.3 ktcross-shoreTide2.5 ftnear lowOffshore swell— Unavailable

2 PM2.4 ft coastal waves

SSW 18s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindW 11.4 ktonshoreTide2.5 ftrisingOffshore swell— Unavailable

3 PM2.3 ft coastal waves

SSW 18s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindW 12.1 ktcross-shoreTide3 ftrisingOffshore swell— Unavailable

4 PM2.3 ft coastal waves

SSW 18s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindW 11.9 ktcross-shoreTide3.5 ftrisingOffshore swell— Unavailable

5 PM2.3 ft coastal waves

SSW 18s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindW 11.4 ktcross-shoreTide4 ftrisingOffshore swell— Unavailable

6 PM2.3 ft coastal waves

SSW 18s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindW 10.8 ktcross-shoreTide4.5 ftrisingOffshore swell— Unavailable

7 PM2.4 ft coastal waves

SSW 17s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindW 8.1 ktcross-shoreTide5 ftnear highOffshore swell— Unavailable

8 PM2.4 ft coastal waves

SSW 17s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindWNW 7.2 ktcross-shoreTide5 ftfallingOffshore swell— Unavailable

9 PM2.5 ft coastal waves

SSW 17s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindWNW 6.4 ktcross-shoreTide4 ftfallingOffshore swell— Unavailable

10 PM2.5 ft coastal waves

SSW 17s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindW 5.3 ktcross-shoreTide3.5 ftfallingOffshore swell— Unavailable

11 PM2.6 ft coastal waves

SSW 17s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindW 3.9 ktonshoreTide2.5 ftfallingOffshore swell— Unavailable

Tide

Santa Monica station 9410840 · regional proxy, interpolated between station extrema · MLLW

Interpolated tide height Recommended window

About this spot

Open beach exposure; wind quality changes quickly.

Mapped spot coordinate: 34.017, -118.831.

Model request point: Malibu Coast (34.02, -118.76). Model output times describe valid conditions; the provider does not expose the model run issue time in this response.

CDIP L1062: 34.0125, -118.8260 · 10.04 m depth · 222° shore normal · shore type 1 · 415 m transect. CDIP named Zuma Beach transect: southwest-facing open beach, 222° normal, planar classification. Shoreline endpoint 34.01531, -118.82302; representative of Zuma, not every sandbar along the beach. CDIP metadata.

Forecast sources

Data coverage 4/4 sources

Source availability is not forecast accuracy. Where an empirical model passes historical testing, its error and interval coverage are shown above. Source count cannot increase that confidence.

LA County surf-zone forecast2–4 ftCurrent · Sep 22, 2:00 PM PDT

CDIP MOP coastal forecast (ECMWF)
1/1 transects have all 05:00–19:00 hours on 2026-09-22; 1 have some coverage. 0 explicitly use WW3 fallback; 0 reuse retained responses. Timestamp is the oldest usable CDIP issue, not the upstream model cycle. Hs at about 10 m, not breaking surf.CurrentSep 22, 2:38 PM PDT
NWS Los Angeles/Oxnard
Mixed west swell and south swellCurrentSep 22, 2:00 PM PDT
Santa Monica 9410840
MLLW high and low predictions; time shown is the end of available coverageCurrentSep 23, 8:01 PM PDT
Open-Meteo local wind
1/1 requested spots have usable local wind; NWS is tried only where this forecast is unusable.CurrentSep 22, 4:30 PM PDT

How best guesses are made

Best guesses combine usable wave and wind evidence, with qualitative confidence and specific limitations. A missing tide or local surf-height model does not prevent useful guidance. Tide levels use the named station datum; their effect at this break remains uncertain. Wind direction is relative to the mapped beach orientation, without calibrated terrain or shelter effects. The comparison is a heuristic, not a measured quality rating.