Weekly Surf Forecast: July 13-19, 2026

This week's forecast runs on our nearshore SWAN model — the 50-meter grid that resolves how each swell actually bends onto your sandbar or reef, not just what a buoy 20 miles offshore is reading.

Honest overall read for July 13–19: it's a West-Coast week. Southern California is the clear standout, tapping a genuine long-period South Pacific groundswell that has Trestles, Huntington and Malibu in the head-high-plus range with clean morning conditions. Everywhere from the Pacific Northwest east is more marginal — the East Coast, Florida and Puerto Rico are stuck in the summer doldrums with small, short-period, wind-driven surf that's mostly one for the longboard or a skip, and I'll flag the few honest windows worth knowing.

Jump to a region: Southern California • Northern California • Pacific Northwest • New York / New Jersey • New England • Outer Banks • Florida East Coast • Puerto Rico

Southern California

Surf: 2-3ft (top spots 4-5ft) • Best day: Monday AM • Conditions: Good

The swell of the week lives here. We're calling a long-period S/SW groundswell — 13.5 to 14 seconds out of roughly 195° (SSW) — the signature of a Southern Hemisphere storm that's been marching north for days. That period is the tell: 14-second energy carries real power and reorganizes cleanly as it wraps into the south-facing breaks. Trestles is the standout at up to 5ft and grading Good; Huntington Pier and Malibu First Point both stack up to 4ft, also Good, and Cardiff Reef holds a fun 3ft. El Porto is the smallest of the group at 2ft — it sits a touch too far up the coast to catch the best of this SSW angle.

Timing is a morning game. Our nearshore day-window scoring drops hard from AM to midday to afternoon — the classic summer pattern where light morning offshores groom it before the sea breeze fills in and turns it to junk by lunch. Monday is the peak, but the whole run of south-facing coast is worth a dawn patrol. High confidence on the swell direction and period; the only real variable is exactly how early the onshore wind switches on each day.

Northern California

Surf: 2-3ft • Best day: Saturday AM • Conditions: Fair

Ocean Beach in SF is the region's standout, pulling up to 4ft (Fair) off that same South Pacific pulse — we're reading 11.4-second energy at about 200° (SSW) reaching up the coast. It's a step down in period from what SoCal is getting, and OB is heavy and shifty even on a moderate swell, so pick your peaks. Linda Mar in Pacifica is the mellower option at up to 2ft, but it's running on weaker 8-second WNW windswell and grades Poor-Fair — a groveler more than a session.

Best window is Saturday morning, before the typical NorCal afternoon wind. Honest read: it's Fair, not great — enough to get wet and find a corner at OB, but this isn't a swell to reshuffle your weekend for.

Pacific Northwest

Surf: 2-3ft • Best day: Saturday AM • Conditions: Poor-Fair

There's size up here — Indian Beach touches 4ft, with Seaside Cove, Cape Kiwanda and La Push all in the 3ft range — but I want to be straight about the quality: it's short-period windswell, 8 seconds out of the WNW (about 295°), and it grades Poor-Fair across the board. Eight-second energy at that size is steep, disorganized and closing out more than it's peeling. These W/NW-facing beaches see everything the North Pacific throws at them, and right now that's local windswell, not groundswell.

Saturday morning is the least-bad window, and up here wind is the whole ballgame — catch a glassy dawn before the sea breeze and there are rideable waves. Just go in knowing it's a short-period, wind-dependent day, not a clean one.

New York / New Jersey

Surf: 1-2ft • Best day: Thursday AM • Conditions: Poor-Fair

Summer flat spell. We're calling 1-2ft of weak, short-period SE windswell — 6 to 7 seconds out of about 125° (ESE/SE) — into the E/SE-facing beach breaks. Rockaway, Manasquan and the Pacific Blvd sandbars are all topping out around 2ft and grading Poor to Poor-Fair. There's no groundswell in the water; these are beach breaks that live and die on NE swell and clean sandbars, and right now they've got neither. Our internal cross-check backs the small call here — knee-to-thigh is the honest ceiling.

If you're going, Thursday morning is the pick of a quiet week — our scoring has every window soft, with the AM the least so. One for the longboard, the foamie, or a skip. It'll take a nor'easter or the first tropical swell of the season to change the story.

New England

Surf: 0-1ft (Narragansett to 3ft) • Best day: Thursday Midday • Conditions: Fair

Mostly flat across the region, but there's one bright spot worth naming: Narragansett Beach in RI is catching a small south windswell — about 7 seconds out of 181° (due S) — and stacking up to 3ft at a Fair grade. Misquamicut nearby sees the same energy but breaks Poor. The south-facing Rhode Island beaches are the play; the E/NE-facing spots up in NH and MA (Hampton, Nantasket) are only pulling 2ft of weak E windswell and grade Poor-Fair.

Best window is Thursday around midday. Be clear-eyed: outside of Narragansett this is a near-flat week for New England. If you're in Rhode Island and can get to a south-facer, there's a waist-to-chest-high longboard session in it. Otherwise it's a wait.

Outer Banks

Surf: 1-2ft • Best day: Saturday Midday • Conditions: Poor-Fair

The East Coast's best swell magnet is small this week, but Cape Hatteras is still the pick of the region — up to 3ft on 7-second ENE windswell (about 72°). Hatteras juts far enough out into the Atlantic to grab energy the rest of the seaboard misses, and even in a weak pattern that edge shows. Folly Beach down in SC is smaller and softer at 2ft, Poor. Overall it's a Poor-Fair grade — short-period and wind-textured, not the clean lines this coast is capable of.

Saturday midday is the window. Honest call: it's a longboard-and-groveler week on the OBX, with Hatteras the one spot worth the drive if you're local. The real season here is fall hurricane swell — this is just holding-pattern surf.

Florida East Coast

Surf: 1-2ft • Best day: Thursday AM • Conditions: Poor-Fair

Classic Florida summer: small and wind-driven. We're reading 1-2ft of short-period E windswell — 7 to 8 seconds out of about 95° (due E) — into the E/SE-facing beaches. Cocoa Beach, Sebastian Inlet and Jacksonville are all in the 2ft range and grading Poor-Fair. Sebastian is usually the quality spot when there's swell to work with, so it's your best bet to find a rideable bank, but there's not much push behind it.

Get it in the morning — Thursday AM, before the sea breeze textures it up, is the best window. It's a groveler and longboard week; the Florida East Coast really needs a tropical system or a cold-front NE swell to wake up, and neither is on the table right now.

Puerto Rico

Surf: 0-1ft • Best day: Saturday AM • Conditions: Poor

It's flat, and that's the honest call — July is the off-season for Puerto Rico. Wilderness on the northwest coast near Aguadilla is the biggest thing going at up to 2ft, but it's weak 5-second ENE windslop and grades Poor; Maria's in Rincon is barely 1ft and Very Poor. These N/NW-facing breaks are built for winter groundswell — Wilderness runs bigger than Rincon, and Maria's is the clean high-performance play a couple feet smaller — but neither works without the North Atlantic doing its winter job.

Saturday morning is nominally the best window, but there's nothing here to chase. Puerto Rico is an October-through-April story; check back when the winter N/NW swells start firing.

Track it live in Swell Intel

Conditions move all week — wind switches, periods build and fade, and the best window can slide a tide either way. Watch the model update in real time and set alerts for your home break at Swell Intel. See what our 50-meter nearshore grid sees that a buoy can't.