- WSL / magicseaweed.com
- WSL / magicseaweed.com
Updated Sunday, August 12th

EVENT WINDOW: August 14th-19th

Brief Overview:
Expect bumpy, average-quality swell at first, becoming very small around the middle of the period, but then picking up later with some good, lined-up swell from about Friday onwards. Wind conditions are generally clean in the mornings with moderate sometimes fresh onshore breezes in the afternoons.

Synopsis:
A moderate north-westerly fetch running from west of Ireland down into the Bay of Biscay is currently generating windseas which will leave some average-quality residual swell at the start of the period. A low then develops off Greenland and tracks east, expected just south of Iceland by Wednesday with a strong westerly fetch on its southern flank. This will generate a pulse of good-quality, longer-period swell towards the end of the week. A second system deepens west of Scotland on Friday, sending another pulse swell towards the end of the weekend.

MSW Forecast for Lacanau 2018 MSW Forecast for Lacanau 2018 - WSL / magicseaweed.com

Outlook:
On Tuesday expect some average-quality residual swell with wave heights around three feet or so, gradually dropping towards the end of the day. Winds are light cross-onshore from the north-northwest in the morning increasing moderate onshore from the northwest around mid-afternoon.

Wednesday morning sees some small but clean surf, wave heights around two to three feet with light offshore winds from the northeast. In the afternoon the swell drops, perhaps struggling to reach two feet by the end of the day, and winds increase to moderate gusting fresh north-northwest.

On Thursday the swell drops to almost nothing, with light variable winds in the morning picking up to moderate or fresh onshores from the northwest in the afternoon. You might get some surfable windseas late afternoon, around two feet or so and choppy.

Friday sees the arrival of a much more solid longer-period swell, mixed with some residual swell at first but becoming more lined up as the day goes on, with wave heights expected to reach about four feet. Winds are light and variable or light offshores from the northeast in the morning, picking up to moderate onshores from the northwest around the middle of the afternoon.

The forecast for the weekend shows surfable conditions throughout, with wave heights dropping slightly on Saturday and then picking up again on Sunday, perhaps hitting five feet or so as that second pulse of swell hits. Winds are mostly light offshores in the morning with moderate cross-onshores in the afternoon.

To keep up to date on the swell please check out these tools available on Magicseaweed:

Lacanau spot forecast
Atlantic swell charts

World Surf League
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