Published November 9, 2026
NEWPORT BEACH | AROUND NEWPORT | NOVEMBER 9, 2026
Every time you check the surf report before paddling out, somebody had to make the call. Sometimes that somebody is a Newport local who grew up surfing the same sandbars you do.
Meet Jax Richards. He’s not a meteorologist. He’s something better for this town: a waterman who reads the ocean for a living.
Jax is a surf forecaster with Surfline, the report half of Newport checks before coffee. His forecasts show up on spot pages from Southern California all the way up to Oregon. Swell, period, wind, all of it, boiled down for people who just want to know if it’s worth getting wet.
The obsession started early. Back when he was writing weekly Southern California forecasts for SURFER, his bio said he surfed every day, biked to school year-round and bored his family with minute-by-minute weather updates. Every family has that kid. In Newport, that kid grows up to tell the rest of us when to call in sick.
He’s also a Newport Beach lifeguard, which means he’s seen what the ocean does when people underestimate it. That’s exactly who you want calling the swell.
Jax didn’t stop at the shoreline. He earned a degree in Global Environmental Science from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 2025 and spent nearly two years as a beach cleanup coordinator with the Surfrider Foundation. Waves, weather and climate are pretty much his whole personality, and we mean that as a compliment.
Follow him at @jax6street for waves, weather updates and reminders that the ocean we all love needs looking after.
Next time the forecast nails it, tip your cap to the local who called it. Then go surf.
Sources
- Jax Richards on LinkedIn
- Jax Richards (@jax6street) on X
- SURFER Forecast: SoCal weekly forecast by Jax Richards
- Surfline: Lower Trestles forecast
- Surfline: Newport, Oregon forecast
Help us out, Newport.
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