Weekend Surf Forecast: July 11-12, 2026

This weekend splits cleanly down the middle of the country. Our nearshore SWAN model — the 50-meter grid that resolves what a buoy parked in open water never can — has a clean, long-period Southern Hemisphere groundswell lighting up nearly every Pacific-facing beach from San Diego to the Washington coast, while the Atlantic sits in the deep July doldrums.

Translation: if you’re on the West Coast, this is a weekend to surf — Ocean Beach, Trestles and Malibu lead the way. If you’re on the East Coast or in Puerto Rico, it’s a longboard-and-coffee weekend, and we’ll be honest about that below. Here’s the region-by-region read.

Southern California

Surf: 3-4ft • Best day: Saturday AM • Conditions: Fair-Good

The energy driving Southern California this weekend is a clean Southern Hemisphere groundswell — our model has it arriving at roughly 15 seconds from about 195 degrees, a true SSW angle that threads up the San Diego and Orange County coast and wraps into the south-facing points. Long-period south swell like this is the whole reason summer exists for SoCal surfers: it focuses on the reefs and points that face into it and largely ignores the wind-exposed beachbreaks.

Trestles and Malibu’s First Point are the standouts, with our model painting faces up to head-high on the better sets; Huntington Pier is right behind in the chest-to-head-high range and Cardiff Reef holds a reliable chest-high. The more open beachbreaks like El Porto stay smaller and more waist-high, since they don’t gather the south angle the same way. Surf it in the morning — the AM window scores best in our ratings before the midday sea breeze softens the faces and adds a bump.

One honest caveat: our nearshore model is sitting toward the bullish end of the guidance this weekend, and there’s real spread in the size signal. Play it conservative — treat the head-high sets at the best-exposed spots as the exception rather than the rule, plan around chest-high at the standouts and waist-to-chest at the average beachbreak, and you’ll be reading it right.

Northern California

Surf: 3-4ft • Best day: Sunday AM • Conditions: Good

Northern California is where this swell shows its best manners. The same south groundswell arrives even cleaner up here — around 16 seconds from 205 degrees — and Ocean Beach in San Francisco is the region’s standout, with our model showing well-overhead faces up to eight feet and a Good rating to match. This is the most organized surf anywhere on the map this weekend.

Sunday morning is the window: our ratings peak in the AM before the afternoon northwest wind gets onto it. A reality check on Ocean Beach at that size, though — it is a serious, current-heavy beachbreak with a punishing paddle-out, and eight-foot faces there are for surfers who know the drill. If you want the same swell at a friendlier scale, Linda Mar in Pacifica stays small and forgiving in the waist-high range, far better suited to longboards and learners than the main event at OB.

Pacific Northwest

Surf: 3-4ft • Best day: Saturday AM • Conditions: Fair

The Oregon and Washington coast is running a more workmanlike swell — mid-period northwest energy around 8 seconds from roughly 290 degrees, standard summer windswell rather than a groundswell. It’s consistent, though: our model has Seaside Cove, Cape Kiwanda, Indian Beach and La Push all stacking up in a uniform four-foot range with Fair conditions across the board.

Get there early — the AM window is the pick before the typical afternoon onshore flow develops and adds texture. Honest read: this is fun, rideable surf rather than a standout. The shorter period means less push than the long-lines California is getting, but four foot and surfable up and down the coast makes for a perfectly good Saturday. Cape Kiwanda and Seaside are the reliable calls.

New York / New Jersey

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

Let’s be straight about the Atlantic: it’s summer, and the ocean is asleep. New York and New Jersey are looking at weak, short-period local windswell — about 5 seconds from the south-southeast — which is another way of saying knee-high slop for most of the region. Rockaway is barely ankle-to-knee, and Manasquan on the Jersey side is the tallest of a short bunch at maybe waist-high on a set.

If you’re going to paddle out, Saturday morning is the only real window — our ratings actually slide negative by midday and into the afternoon as the sea breeze fills in and disorganizes what little there is. This is a longboard, fish, or foamie weekend, or an honest excuse to skip it and save your energy for the next groundswell. A dawn longboard session at Manasquan is fine; just keep the expectations at the beach.

New England

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

Same story a little further north. New England is small and mixed — our model sees a weak short-period south swell layered with some equally soft east energy near 8 seconds, and none of it adds up to much. Narragansett and Nantasket are the best of it at a generous two feet; Misquamicut and Hampton are smaller still, sitting in the knee-high Poor range.

The window, if you want one, is Saturday morning — conditions deteriorate steadily through the weekend, with ratings dropping well into the negative by Sunday afternoon. This is a wax-up-the-longboard kind of weekend. If you’re set on surfing, Narragansett Beach on an early Saturday tide is the highest-percentage call, but nobody’s missing much if they wait this one out.

Outer Banks

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

The Outer Banks and the Carolina coast are small but not entirely flat. Our model has Cape Hatteras as the pick at up to two feet on a mix of short-period south and southwest energy around 6 seconds — Hatteras’ exposure lets it squeeze the most out of a weak signal, while Folly Beach Pier further south stays a soft, sub-two-foot Poor.

Surf it Saturday morning if you surf it at all — the AM window is the best of a marginal set, and it fades by the afternoon. Knee-to-waist and short-period isn’t the Outer Banks at its best, but Hatteras should have a rideable peak or two for the longboard early. This is a coast that comes alive on tropical swell later in the season; for now, temper the expectations.

Florida East Coast

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

Florida’s east coast is flat this weekend — there’s no tropical activity in the Atlantic to feed it, and without a system spinning offshore the region defaults to knee-high summer trade slop. Sebastian Inlet, as always, is the one spot that makes the most of nothing, showing up to two feet of Poor-to-Fair surf on an 8-second east pulse; Jacksonville Beach further north is smaller and weaker on a short-period southeast chop.

The best of it lands Sunday around midday by our ratings — marginal, but the tick up is real. This is unambiguously a longboard, SUP, or beginner weekend on the Space Coast. The good news is seasonal: hurricane season is just spinning up, and the first real tropical swell of the year can flip this forecast overnight. For now, Sebastian on a Sunday longboard is the move.

Puerto Rico

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

Puerto Rico is deep in its off-season, and the model shows it. The north and west coasts live for winter’s north and northwest groundswell; in July they get trade-wind windswell and little else. This weekend that means about a foot of short-period east-northeast energy — Maria’s in Rincon is essentially flat and Very Poor, and even Wilderness up toward Aguadilla, which normally runs bigger than anywhere on the island, is only scraping two feet.

There’s no standout window — our ratings sit flat across morning, midday and afternoon all weekend. If you’re on the island, this is a swim, snorkel, or beginner-longboard weekend rather than a performance one. Rincon’s world-class walls will be back; they just need the North Atlantic to start firing, and that’s an October-through-April story. File this one under rest day.

Track it live in Swell Intel

Our nearshore SWAN model updates around the clock, so you’ll see these swells shift — the West Coast south groundswell easing, the first Atlantic tropical pulse building — before they ever show up at your local break. Head to swell-intel.com for the live forecast at your spot.