Shelter Cove · Humboldt County · California
Shelter Cove Surf Report & Forecast, California
Shelter Cove, California: 7–8 ft, overhead, at 12 pm PST on Monday, Nov 9, rated Fair. The main swell is 8.1 ft at 13 seconds from the west, with a 7 mph cross-shore wind from the south-southeast, gusting 13 mph. Water is about 64°F, so a 3/2 full wetsuit is the suggestion; the next low tide is -0.3 ft at 5:23 pm.
7–8 ft
overhead · occasional 9 ft
- Swell
- 8.1 ft · 13 s · W
- Wind
- 7 mph (SSE), gusts 13cross-shore
- Tide
- 5.9 ft fallinglow -0.3 ft at 5:23 pm
- Water
- 64°F3/2
- Air
- 60°Ffeels like 56°F
- Sun
- rise 6:55 amset 5:05 pm
Shelter Cove surf today and tomorrow
Best-rated hour today at Shelter Cove: 6 am, Great, on a rising mid tide.
Blue band: surf face height from the low end to set waves; dotted: occasional larger sets. Grey line: tide, in feet on the right scale. Colour strip: the hourly rating. Arrows: wind direction and strength, teal when offshore, orange when onshore.
Best-rated hour tomorrow at Shelter Cove: 6 am, Great, on a rising mid tide.
Hour by hour as a table, today and tomorrow
| Time | Surf | Rating | Wind | Tide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 am | 7–9 ft | Great | 7 mph cross-shore (ESE), gusts 12 | 3.9 ft |
| 7 am | 7–8 ft | Good | 7 mph cross-shore (SE), gusts 12 | 4.8 ft |
| 8 am | 7–8 ft | Good | 8 mph cross-shore (SE), gusts 14 | 5.8 ft |
| 9 am | 7–8 ft | Good | 7 mph cross-shore (SSE), gusts 13 | 6.6 ft |
| 10 am | 7–8 ft | Fair | 7 mph cross-shore (SSE), gusts 13 | 6.9 ft |
| 11 am | 6–7 ft | Fair | 8 mph onshore (S), gusts 14 | 6.7 ft |
| 12 pmnow | 6–7 ft | Fair | 8 mph onshore (SSE), gusts 14 | 5.9 ft |
| 1 pm | 6–7 ft | Poor to Fair | 8 mph onshore (S), gusts 15 | 4.6 ft |
| 2 pm | 7–8 ft | Fair | 6 mph onshore (S), gusts 13 | 3.0 ft |
| 3 pm | 7–8 ft | Good | 5 mph onshore (S), gusts 10 | 1.5 ft |
| 4 pm | 7–8 ft | Good | 4 mph onshore (S) | 0.3 ft |
| 5 pm | 6–7 ft | Great | calm | -0.3 ft |
| 6 pm | 7–8 ft | Great | 3 mph cross-shore (SSE) | -0.2 ft |
| Time | Surf | Rating | Wind | Tide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 am | 7–8 ft | Great | 4 mph cross-shore (E) | 3.7 ft |
| 7 am | 6–7 ft | Great | 4 mph cross-shore (ENE) | 4.3 ft |
| 8 am | 6–7 ft | Great | 4 mph offshore (ENE) | 5.2 ft |
| 9 am | 6–7 ft | Good | calm | 6.1 ft |
| 10 am | 6–7 ft | Good | calm | 6.7 ft |
| 11 am | 6–7 ft | Good | 4 mph onshore (SW), gusts 9 | 6.8 ft |
| 12 pm | 6–7 ft | Fair | 5 mph onshore (SW), gusts 12 | 6.3 ft |
| 1 pm | 6–7 ft | Good | 4 mph onshore (WSW), gusts 9 | 5.2 ft |
| 2 pm | 6–7 ft | Good | calm | 3.8 ft |
| 3 pm | 6–7 ft | Great | calm | 2.3 ft |
| 4 pm | 6–7 ft | Great | calm | 0.9 ft |
| 5 pm | 6–7 ft | Great | calm | -0.0 ft |
| 6 pm | 6–7 ft | Great | calm | -0.3 ft |
Shelter Cove waves today: sets, lulls and how they break
At 12 pm, sets at Shelter Cove arrive about every 5 minutes with about 4 waves each, and the waves are mostly spilling and crumbly.
- Set waves
- about 7.7 ft faces
- Waves per set
- about 4
- Sets
- every 5 minutes or so, each lasting about 38 s
- Lulls
- about 138 s between breaking waves
- How they break
- Spillingwhich means soft, crumbling whitewater
- Shape
- Crumblywhich means whitewater rolls gently down the face
- Breaking
- 94% of waves stand up and break where surfers sitThe rest roll through.
- Along-shore current
- strong, about 1.7 mphThis is not a rip current forecast. For rip current risk, see the National Weather Service.
Shelter Cove surf this weekend and the next 10 days
Next 10 days at Shelter Cove: the biggest day is Saturday, Nov 14 at 13–17 ft, and the best-rated day is Monday, Nov 16 (Great). This weekend: Saturday, Nov 14, 13–17 ft and Poor; Sunday, Nov 15, 7–11 ft and Good.
Thu, Nov 19 – Tue, Nov 24
Days 11–16 for Shelter Cove are in the Current app with a Premium subscription.
Bars: surf face height from the low end to set waves, by day. Colour strip: the day's best rating. Arrows: main swell direction. Shaded: this weekend.
The 10-day forecast as a table, with swell and wind
| Day | Surf | Rating | Main swell | Wind am | Wind pm | Best time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon, Nov 9 | 6–9 ft | Great | 10.1 ft · 15 s · W | 8 mph cross-shore (SE), gusts 14 | 6 mph onshore (S), gusts 13 | 6 am |
| Tue, Nov 10 | 6–8 ft | Great | 7.1 ft · 12 s · W | 4 mph offshore (ENE) | calm | 6 am |
| Wed, Nov 11 | 5–8 ft | Good | 7.0 ft · 13 s · W | calm | 7 mph onshore (SSW), gusts 15 | 8 am |
| Thu, Nov 12 | 8–10 ft | Good | 8.6 ft · 15 s · W | 9 mph cross-shore (ESE), gusts 16 | 9 mph onshore (S), gusts 17 | 6 am |
| Fri, Nov 13 | 7–12 ft | Poor | 8.2 ft · 14 s · WSW | 21 mph cross-shore (SSE), gusts 31 | 23 mph onshore (S), gusts 42 | 6 pm |
| Sat, Nov 14 | 13–17 ft | Poor | 13.6 ft · 15 s · W | 13 mph cross-shore (SSE), gusts 19 | 18 mph onshore (S), gusts 30 | 7 am |
| Sun, Nov 15 | 7–11 ft | Good | 8.9 ft · 16 s · W | 11 mph onshore (SSW), gusts 22 | 12 mph cross-shore (W), gusts 26 | 4 pm |
| Mon, Nov 16 | 10–14 ft | Great | — | 6 mph offshore (NNE), gusts 12 | 6 mph onshore (SW), gusts 13 | 4 pm |
| Tue, Nov 17 | 5–8 ft | Great | — | 8 mph offshore (NE) | 6 mph onshore (S) | 7 am |
| Wed, Nov 18 | 6–8 ft | Great | — | 10 mph offshore (NNW), gusts 17 | 13 mph cross-shore (NW) | 4 pm |
| Thu, Nov 19 – Tue, Nov 24 | Days 11–16 for Shelter Cove are in the Current app with a Premium subscription. Get the app | |||||
Shelter Cove tide chart and tide times
Tides at Shelter Cove today, Monday, Nov 9: low 3.2 ft at 4:13 am, high 6.9 ft at 10:08 am and low -0.3 ft at 5:23 pm. At 12 pm the tide is 5.9 ft and falling.
Shelter Cove tide chart, November 2026
| Day | Tides |
|---|---|
| Mon, Nov 9 | Low 3.2 ft at 4:13 amHigh 6.9 ft at 10:08 amLow -0.3 ft at 5:23 pm |
| Tue, Nov 10 | High 5.1 ft at 12:11 amLow 3.3 ft at 4:47 amHigh 6.8 ft at 10:41 amLow -0.3 ft at 5:59 pm |
| Wed, Nov 11 | High 5.1 ft at 12:57 amLow 3.7 ft at 5:19 amHigh 6.8 ft at 11:11 amLow -0.1 ft at 6:37 pm |
| Thu, Nov 12 | High 5.1 ft at 1:43 amLow 4.0 ft at 5:54 amHigh 6.8 ft at 11:47 amLow 0.3 ft at 7:19 pm |
| Fri, Nov 13 | High 5.1 ft at 2:31 amLow 4.2 ft at 6:34 amHigh 6.7 ft at 12:25 pmLow 0.7 ft at 8:04 pm |
| Sat, Nov 14 | High 5.2 ft at 3:26 amLow 4.5 ft at 7:21 amHigh 6.5 ft at 1:07 pmLow 1.0 ft at 8:52 pm |
| Sun, Nov 15 | High 5.3 ft at 4:21 amLow 4.6 ft at 8:34 amHigh 5.9 ft at 1:51 pmLow 1.0 ft at 9:43 pm |
| Mon, Nov 16 | High 5.1 ft at 5:15 amLow 4.1 ft at 9:55 amHigh 5.2 ft at 2:53 pmLow 1.1 ft at 10:27 pm |
| Tue, Nov 17 | High 5.3 ft at 5:56 amLow 3.8 ft at 11:22 am |
Tide predictions, not observations. Heights in feet above MLLW.
Shelter Cove water temperature
The water temperature at Shelter Cove is about 64°F on Monday, Nov 9. With the air feeling like 56°F and a 7 mph wind, a 3/2 full wetsuit is the suggestion. Over the next week the water stays between 59 and 64°F.
Water temperature is a forecast for the water at this spot, not a buoy reading. The wetsuit suggestion uses Billabong's wetsuit temperature scale, adjusted for air temperature and wind.
Surf spots near Shelter Cove
- Deadman's0.6 mi ESE · 8–9 ft · Good
- Gale Point0.9 mi SE · 10–12 ft · Good
- Big Flat9.6 mi NW · 7–9 ft · Good
- Usal Beach17 mi SE · 9–10 ft · Great
- DeHaven Creek29 mi SSE · 9–10 ft · Great
- Chadbourne Gulch31 mi SSE · 11–12 ft · Great
Rated right now. The Current app animates the surf itself on a live map of the whole coast. See the app →
About Shelter Cove
Shelter Cove is a point break in Shelter Cove, Humboldt County, California, facing south-southwest. Also called Point Delgada.
Follow Shelter Cove in the Current app
The first 10 days are free, and Premium adds days 11–16.
Forecasts are estimates. Never rely on them for safety. For rip current risk and beach hazards, check the National Weather Service. Forecasts from Current's novel physics simulation. No AI. No black boxes. Ocean and weather data: NOAA (U.S. government data). NOAA does not endorse this site.