NDBC 46221 · Forecast · 20 km S
Upstream · sees swell first
Reads live — no lead over the break.
Awaiting live data
- Waves
- Spectral
- Forecast
- Tides

14 active NOAA stations report within 150 km of Malibu (Surfrider). The closest wave buoy is NDBC 46268 (Topanga Nearshore, CA), 9 km E of the break. Buoy 46221 sits upstream in the swell window, so it registers an incoming swell before it reaches the sand.
Stations are ranked by how much they tell you about Malibu (Surfrider), not just by distance: a buoy sitting upstream — in the direction the swell comes from (about SSW here) — registers a new swell before it reaches the break, so it earns a lead time; a buoy behind an island is marked as shadowed; stale reports rank below fresh ones. Readings are the latest public NOAA observations and refresh hourly.