Best Honolulu surf window today: tide and conditions
Honolulu's best surf window today is 2:30 PM-3:30 PM, with falling tide, 16 mph wind, and 2.1 ft swell; tide in range, cross-shore winds, good swell angle. Kewalo Basin is the top pick at 1.9 ft.
Live surf planning
Plan around the live conditions
Best time to surf Honolulu this week
September scores 84/100 on the Pearl Harbor Entrance buoy record. It's in the peak band, within 10 points of May.
Match the surf report
Now: rising tide, 16 mph wind, and 2.2 ft swell. Confirm them in the live surf report first.
Buoy score v1
Buoy record for September
September
Buoy median 3 ft, typically 2.6–3.3 ft, at Pearl Harbor Entrance, 13.9 km from Waikīkī. Water 81°F. Peak month: May.
Buoy score by month
Analysis by Quiver of NOAA NDBC station 51211 (CDIP 233) hourly observations, 2017–2025, 74,298 hours. Method buoy-v1. Station page
How the buoy score works
- 45%: share of days when the buoy's daytime median reached 2 ft
- 25%: share of hours with swell of 10 seconds or longer
- 10%: how comfortable the median water temperature is
This page has no wind record we trust, so the other three parts are scaled up to fill the score.
Method buoy-v1. Buoy scores can be compared with each other. The monthly scores on city pages without buoy data use an older method.
Month by month at the buoy
| Month | Buoy score | Buoy median (typical) | Days 6 ft+ | Days under 2 ft | Swell 10 s+ | Water | Wetsuit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60 | 2.5 ft (2–3.1) | 1% | 26% | 20% | 77°F | Boardshorts |
| February | 61 | 2.5 ft (1.8–3.4) | 1% | 29% | 29% | 76°F | Boardshorts |
| March | 69 | 2.8 ft (2.2–3.4) | 1% | 16% | 32% | 76°F | Boardshorts |
| AprilPeak | 78 | 2.8 ft (2.3–3.3) | 1% | 8% | 45% | 77°F | Boardshorts |
| MayPeak | 87 | 2.9 ft (2.5–3.3) | 0% | 3% | 64% | 78°F | Boardshorts |
| JunePeak | 87 | 3 ft (2.7–3.4) | 0% | 1% | 65% | 79°F | Boardshorts |
| JulyPeak | 82 | 3.1 ft (2.8–3.5) | 0% | 1% | 49% | 80°F | Boardshorts |
| AugustPeak | 85 | 3 ft (2.6–3.4) | 1% | 1% | 58% | 81°F | Boardshorts |
| SeptemberPeak | 84 | 3 ft (2.6–3.3) | 0% | 3% | 57% | 81°F | Boardshorts |
| OctoberPeak | 81 | 2.7 ft (2.3–3.1) | 0% | 9% | 59% | 81°F | Boardshorts |
| November | 68 | 2.6 ft (2.1–3.2) | 0% | 18% | 33% | 80°F | Boardshorts |
| December | 64 | 2.7 ft (2.1–3.2) | 1% | 19% | 19% | 78°F | Boardshorts |
Analysis by Quiver of NOAA NDBC station 51211 (CDIP 233) hourly observations, 2017–2025, 74,298 hours. Method buoy-v1. Station page
How big the buoy reads each month
Analysis by Quiver of NOAA NDBC station 51211 (CDIP 233) hourly observations, 2017–2025, 74,298 hours. Method buoy-v1. Station page
Where the swell comes from
Direction the swell comes from at the buoy, as a share of hours in each season.
Analysis by Quiver of NOAA NDBC station 51211 (CDIP 233) hourly observations, 2017–2025, 74,298 hours. Method buoy-v1. Station page
Where these numbers come from
- A · Waikīkī
- 1 · Pearl Harbor Entrance (NDBC 51211): 13.9 km from Waikīkī
Map © Mapbox © OpenStreetMap
Months left out because the buoy recorded less than 70% of their hours: 2017-01, 2017-02, 2017-03, 2017-04, 2017-05.
