Along the Sonoma County coast today, light to moderate onshore flow keeps the marine layer close to the shore, with patchy coastal fog in the morning giving way to partial clearing during the afternoon as southwest to west winds increase toward 10 to 15 knots and maintain a generally cool, stable marine environment. [web:1][web:7]
Over the nearshore waters off Sonoma, seas are running in the 4 to 5 foot range on average, combining locally generated wind waves with a longer-period background swell that produces generally moderate but occasionally choppy surface conditions for small craft. [web:1][web:5] The Bodega-area buoys report significant wave heights near 4.5 to 5 feet, which is a reasonable approximation of average breakers on more exposed outer sandbars while more sheltered coves experience smaller, more organized surf. [web:5]
Swell energy reaching the Sonoma coast is dominated by a south-southwest to west-northwest component, with nearby buoys indicating mean wave directions around SSW near 195 degrees true and mixed shorter-period wind waves from the west layered over this longer swell. [web:5][web:7] The average wave period at the Bodega-area buoy is running close to 7 seconds, while the broader marine forecast highlights a combination of locally generated wind waves around 8 to 10 seconds and a longer southern swell in the mid to upper teens, yielding a mixed sea state that feels lumpy rather than purely organized swell. [web:5][web:7]
For tide-sensitive planning along the Sonoma County shoreline today, low tide early in the morning drops close to or just below zero feet, followed by a midday high tide in the lower to mid four-foot range that slowly fills in reefs and narrower harbor entrances. [web:3][web:6][web:9] A secondary afternoon or early evening low tide settles back into the three-foot zone, keeping enough water over most sandbars while still exposing some intertidal structure, and a later evening high tide climbs into the five to six-foot range, bringing fuller water volumes and stronger tidal currents around points and inlets. [web:3][web:6][web:9]
Overall, Sonoma County’s marine conditions today feature a cool onshore flow regime with moderate seas around 4 to 5 feet, mixed wind wave and swell energy from the west and south-southwest, and a tide cycle that moves from a very low morning tide through a modest midday high into a moderate evening low and a more robust nighttime high, shaping both surf quality and nearshore navigation windows for local mariners and coastal users. [web:1][web:5][web:6][web:7][web:9]
raw data from noaa, curated by surforecast pacificwaverider
Credits and references: NOAA National Weather Service marine forecasts and NDBC buoy data; NOAA Tides & Currents and regional tide tables for Sonoma County and Bodega Bay. [web:1][web:5][web:6][web:7][web:9]