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Malibu · Wednesday, Sep 23

Zuma

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

When to go

Around 6:00 PM

Looks good · Moderate confidence

2.4–2.4 ft · Coastal waves · not surf height

Wind: 1.9 kt · onshore

Forecast details
  • Waves are forecast to reach this beach.
  • Light wind should keep the water smoother.
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.

  • 4:00 PM–6:00 PM · America/Los_Angeles

    Light wind · up to 3.6 kt · reported gusts up to 3.7 kt

    Coastal waves at about 10 m depth: 2.4–2.4 ft across the period. Surf height unavailable. Tide data available; check the local tide response.

    Wind source time: Sep 22, 5:00 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 ESE 4.1 kt

Tide 4 ft near high

Wave, wind and tide details
CDIP coastal waveSSW 2.5 ft @ 15sECMWF forecast valid Sep 23, 8:00 AM 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 2.1 ft · <10 s 1.3 ft
Coastal period bands20 s and longer: 0.6 ft · energy-weighted direction 209°14–20 s: 1.6 ft · energy-weighted direction 209°10–14 s: 1.3 ft · energy-weighted direction 212°Under 10 s: 1.3 ft · energy-weighted direction 242°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 anemometerESE 4.1 ktcross-shoreValid 2026-09-23 08:00 · America/Los_Angeles1.7 kt offshore component
Tide4 ftnear highSanta Monica station 9410840 · regional proxy, interpolated between station extrema · predicted height relative to MLLW90% 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.

Coastal significant wave height and wind by hour for Zuma; not breaking surf.

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
TimeCoastal waves · ~10 mWindTideOffshore swell
SSW 2.6 ft @ 17sE 2.4 ktoffshore2 ftfalling— Unavailable
SSW 2.6 ft @ 15sE 5.5 ktcross-shore1 ftfalling— Unavailable
SSW 2.6 ft @ 15sESE 5.3 ktcross-shore0.5 ftnear low— Unavailable
SSW 2.6 ft @ 15sESE 4.4 ktcross-shore0.5 ftrising— Unavailable
SSW 2.6 ft @ 15sESE 4.5 ktcross-shore1.5 ftrising— Unavailable
SSW 2.6 ft @ 15sESE 5.2 ktcross-shore2 ftrising— Unavailable
SSW 2.5 ft @ 15sESE 4.6 ktcross-shore3 ftrising— Unavailable
SSW 2.5 ft @ 15sESE 4.2 ktcross-shore3.5 ftrising— Unavailable
SSW 2.5 ft @ 15sESE 4.1 ktcross-shore4 ftnear high— Unavailable
SSW 2.5 ft @ 15sSE 3 ktcross-shore4.5 ftfalling— Unavailable
SSW 2.5 ft @ 15sSE 5.2 ktcross-shore4 ftfalling— Unavailable
SSW 2.4 ft @ 15sSSE 4.6 ktcross-shore3.5 ftfalling— Unavailable
SSW 2.4 ft @ 15sS 4.3 ktonshore3 ftfalling— Unavailable
SSW 2.4 ft @ 15sSSW 4.2 ktonshore2.5 ftfalling— Unavailable
SSW 2.4 ft @ 15sSW 4.2 ktonshore2 ftnear low— Unavailable
SSW 2.4 ft @ 15sSW 4.1 ktonshore2.5 ftrising— Unavailable
SSW 2.4 ft @ 15sSW 3.6 ktonshore3 ftrising— Unavailable
SSW 2.4 ft @ 15sSW 2.6 ktonshore3.5 ftrising— Unavailable
SSW 2.4 ft @ 15sSW 1.9 ktonshore4.5 ftrising— Unavailable
SSW 2.3 ft @ 15sSE 2.3 ktcross-shore5 ftrising— Unavailable
SSW 2.3 ft @ 15sESE 4.9 ktcross-shore5.5 ftnear high— Unavailable
SSW 2.3 ft @ 15sESE 5.1 ktcross-shore4.5 ftfalling— Unavailable
SSW 2.3 ft @ 15sESE 6 ktcross-shore4 ftfalling— Unavailable
SSW 2.3 ft @ 15sESE 5.8 ktcross-shore3 ftfalling— Unavailable
2.6 ft coastal waves

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

WindE 2.4 ktoffshoreTide2 ftfallingOffshore swell— Unavailable
2.6 ft coastal waves

SSW 15s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindE 5.5 ktcross-shoreTide1 ftfallingOffshore swell— Unavailable
2.6 ft coastal waves

SSW 15s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindESE 5.3 ktcross-shoreTide0.5 ftnear lowOffshore swell— Unavailable
2.6 ft coastal waves

SSW 15s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindESE 4.4 ktcross-shoreTide0.5 ftrisingOffshore swell— Unavailable
2.6 ft coastal waves

SSW 15s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindESE 4.5 ktcross-shoreTide1.5 ftrisingOffshore swell— Unavailable
2.6 ft coastal waves

SSW 15s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindESE 5.2 ktcross-shoreTide2 ftrisingOffshore swell— Unavailable
2.5 ft coastal waves

SSW 15s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindESE 4.6 ktcross-shoreTide3 ftrisingOffshore swell— Unavailable
2.5 ft coastal waves

SSW 15s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindESE 4.2 ktcross-shoreTide3.5 ftrisingOffshore swell— Unavailable
2.5 ft coastal waves

SSW 15s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindESE 4.1 ktcross-shoreTide4 ftnear highOffshore swell— Unavailable
2.5 ft coastal waves

SSW 15s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindSE 3 ktcross-shoreTide4.5 ftfallingOffshore swell— Unavailable
2.5 ft coastal waves

SSW 15s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindSE 5.2 ktcross-shoreTide4 ftfallingOffshore swell— Unavailable
2.4 ft coastal waves

SSW 15s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindSSE 4.6 ktcross-shoreTide3.5 ftfallingOffshore swell— Unavailable
2.4 ft coastal waves

SSW 15s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindS 4.3 ktonshoreTide3 ftfallingOffshore swell— Unavailable
2.4 ft coastal waves

SSW 15s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindSSW 4.2 ktonshoreTide2.5 ftfallingOffshore swell— Unavailable
2.4 ft coastal waves

SSW 15s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindSW 4.2 ktonshoreTide2 ftnear lowOffshore swell— Unavailable
2.4 ft coastal waves

SSW 15s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindSW 4.1 ktonshoreTide2.5 ftrisingOffshore swell— Unavailable
2.4 ft coastal waves

SSW 15s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindSW 3.6 ktonshoreTide3 ftrisingOffshore swell— Unavailable
2.4 ft coastal waves

SSW 15s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindSW 2.6 ktonshoreTide3.5 ftrisingOffshore swell— Unavailable
2.4 ft coastal waves

SSW 15s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindSW 1.9 ktonshoreTide4.5 ftrisingOffshore swell— Unavailable
2.3 ft coastal waves

SSW 15s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindSE 2.3 ktcross-shoreTide5 ftrisingOffshore swell— Unavailable
2.3 ft coastal waves

SSW 15s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindESE 4.9 ktcross-shoreTide5.5 ftnear highOffshore swell— Unavailable
2.3 ft coastal waves

SSW 15s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindESE 5.1 ktcross-shoreTide4.5 ftfallingOffshore swell— Unavailable
2.3 ft coastal waves

SSW 15s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindESE 6 ktcross-shoreTide4 ftfallingOffshore swell— Unavailable
2.3 ft coastal waves

SSW 15s · ECMWF forecast · about 10 m depth, not breaking surf.

WindESE 5.8 ktcross-shoreTide3 ftfallingOffshore swell— Unavailable

Tide

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

Tide height by hour for Zuma. Approximate interpolation between predicted high and low events. Heights range from 0.5 to 5.5 feet.

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 2026-09-23; 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.    Current
  • NWS Los Angeles/Oxnard
    Mixed west swell and south swell    Current
  • Santa Monica 9410840
    MLLW high and low predictions; time shown is the end of available coverage    Current
  • Open-Meteo local wind
    1/1 requested spots have usable local wind; NWS is tried only where this forecast is unusable.    Current
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.