San Mateo Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s get into it. The waves coming up for San Mateo are looking weak and messy for a good stretch, so you’ll need to pick your moments carefully. There’s no standout swell in the immediate days, and most of the period is blown out or just too small to really get excited about. The combined swell energy is low to moderate, with values mostly sitting in the two to three digit range (655, 521, 417, etc.), and the wind is almost always a problem. The water temp here is a wild story – currently 80°F, with a 7°F anomaly. That’s much warmer than normal for the season, and you’ll definitely notice it. For a point break like San Mateo, it’s exposed to the NW, so when the swell direction aligns, it can work, but the optimum is from the NW, and we’re getting mostly SW swell. That makes it less ideal.

For the next several days, it’s a tough watch. The first real chance of anything decent isn’t until Monday morning, July 13th. That’s when we get a glassy morning – wind is basically barely there (3 mph), and the wind state is “glass”. That’s rare in this run, and it’s a big positive. The swell is 3 ft from the SW (13-second period), with combined energy of 270 (moderate). It’s small, but clean. That’s a good time to paddle out for a quiet, uncrowded session. The crowds at San Mateo are “sometimes”, so you might have it to yourself.

The next one worth looking at is Wednesday morning, July 15th – a clean offering. Wind is from the S at 9 mph, classified as cross-off, which means it’s clean. Swell is 2 ft from the SW (16-second period – long period groundswell, giving good shape), combined energy of 208 (moderate). Not big, but the wind will make it super tidy. Again, small but good.

Beyond that, the rest is mostly junk. The afternoon sessions are all blown out with cross-onshore winds, and there’s no real size to speak of. The second week of the forecast (starting around July 18th) offers only marginal or poor conditions – a few mornings with light winds but tiny swell. Nothing that would make you cancel plans.

So, overall, there’s no big swell hitting San Mateo in this 16-day window. The best of it comes early Monday morning July 13th and Wednesday morning July 15th – both very small but glassy/clean. They are the true standouts. Don’t expect anything over 4 ft until the very end of the run, and even then the wind is cross-off or choppy. For the rest of the time, the setup looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing, given the persistent cross-onshore winds and poor surf quality. That blank run between decent moments is long – expect a stretch of several days with no real recommendations.

Rusty.

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