Rockaway Beach Beach Conditions
75°F water · 2.6 ft @ 7s · SE 16 · rip moderate
Rockaway Beach beach forecast — water temp, waves, tides, rip-current risk
Right now
- Water temperature
- 75°F · 2.0° above average
- Waves
- 2.6 ft · 7s period
- Wind
- 16 mph SE · gusts 20
- Rip-current risk
- MODERATE
Today's tides
- 4:31 AMLow0.1 ft
- 10:37 AMHigh3.7 ft
- 4:45 PMLow0.5 ft
- 10:46 PMHigh3.8 ft
Next 6 hours
- +1h2.1 ft5s
- +2h2.2 ft5s
- +3h2.2 ft5s
- +4h2.3 ft4s
- +5h2.4 ft4s
- +6h2.4 ft4s
About this beach
Rockaway Beach stretches 5.5 miles along the Rockaway Peninsula, the only legal surf beach in New York City (designated surfing corridors at 67th–69th, 87th–92nd, and 110th streets). Surf culture took hold here in the 1960s; the local boardwalk scene blends Ramones-era working-class Queens with newer arrivals priced out of Brooklyn.
The A train to Beach 90th or Beach 67th puts you on the sand in 75 minutes from midtown Manhattan; the NYC Ferry's Rockaway route from Wall Street and Sunset Park is faster (~60 min) and runs more frequently in summer. Lifeguards staff most stretches from late May through Labor Day.
Wave height and water temperature on this page are read from NDBC buoy 44065; tide times come from the NOAA CO-OPS Jones Inlet station 8516385. The long-term monthly mean water temperature for this stretch of coast is 73°F (NDBC 44065 climatology); the current reading sits 2.0° above average. For the air-side forecast, see the weather pages for Queens, NY, Brooklyn, NY, and Long Beach, NY.