San Mateo Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let’s take a look at what San Mateo has in store for us.

First up, this is a bit of a slow burn. For the next several days, the surf is pretty ordinary with a lot of onshore or cross-shore winds making a mess of things. The water temp is roughly average for the time of year, nothing too wild.

The real standout, and honestly the only time I’d get excited, is Thursday morning the 27th of August. We’ve got a 2ft SW groundswell rolling in with a 16-second period – that’s proper long period energy. What makes it special is the wind goes glassy, absolute flat calm. That’s the session to paddle out for. The combined swell energy is a solid 298 (moderate wave energy), so there’s some push behind it, but it’s not going to be a washing machine. This point break can handle that long-period SW swell nicely.

The next morning, Friday the 28th, there’s a bigger pulse arriving – 4ft SW with that same long 18-second period, and the combined energy jumps to 1142 (strong wave energy). But here’s the catch: the wind is cross-onshore, light but still on it. It’s rated as marginal, so it’s not clean but you might find a few if you’re keen. The afternoon gets messy, so aim for early.

From there, we get a bit of size bump around Saturday the 29th with waves pushing 6ft, but that’s paired with moderate cross-shore winds and a bit of a lumpy cross-chop. That size is getting too big for beginners, and the wind won’t do it any favours for experts either. The period drops a bit to 16 seconds, but the energy is still high (1666 – strong). It’s a messy one.

After that, it’s small and mostly choppy right through to early September. A few mornings in the first week of September have light cross-shore winds and 2ft to 3ft SW swell, but nothing that screams “drop everything and go.” The combined energy sits in the moderate range, but the wind states just aren’t clean enough.

So to sum it up: the best window is Thursday morning the 27th – glassy, long-period SW groundswell, and San Mateo’s point setup should handle it well. If you miss that, Friday morning the 28th is the next look, but it’s a bit compromised. The rest is mostly a waiting game.

Rusty.

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