If you’re heading to the beach in Los Cabos this long weekend, check the flag before you get in the water. After the heavy rain and thunderstorms of Tuesday, October 27, the municipal beach authority, ZOFEMAT (the office in charge of the federal coastal zone), put up black flags on 31 beaches on Wednesday. In Thursday’s report, 26 beaches were still closed and five more had red flags, and not a single one had a green flag.

Which beaches are affected

According to Thursday’s ZOFEMAT report, as published by Tribuna de México, 21 points in Cabo San Lucas kept the black flag, including El Médano, Santa María, El Chileno, Las Viudas, El Tule and Migriño, as well as the stretches in front of hotels such as Hacienda, Casa Dorada, ME Cabo, Villa del Palmar, Villa del Arco and the Riu resorts. In San José del Cabo, the black flag stayed up at Palmilla, Acapulquito, Costa Azul, Las Palmas and La Playa.

Up the East Cape, La Ribera, Surgidero, El Dátil/Capilla, Spa Buena Vista and La Gaviota went from black to red on Thursday. That sounds like progress, and it is, but a red flag still means no swimming.

What the flags mean

Los Cabos uses a color system on its beaches, and it’s worth knowing, because the rules are taken seriously:

  • Black: the beach is closed and you can’t go into the sea.
  • Red: swimming is not allowed.
  • Yellow: dangerous conditions, so go in only with caution.
  • Green: good conditions for swimming.
  • White: jellyfish have been spotted.

ZOFEMAT says conditions can change during the day, so the flag you see in the morning may not be the one flying in the afternoon. Follow what the lifeguards tell you on the spot, and if you want to know which beaches are normally calm enough for a swim, our guide to Los Cabos beaches is a good place to start.

Crews are also clearing water hyacinth

The rain isn’t the only thing the beaches have had to deal with. The city government says ZOFEMAT crews have removed more than 150 tonnes of water hyacinth (lirio acuático, an invasive freshwater plant that gets washed out to sea) in the last 15 days. The cleanup has covered the coast from Playa Santa María to the community of La Playa in San José del Cabo, and several points on the East Cape as far as the bay of Los Frailes. So if you see piles of green plants on the sand, now you know where they came from, and that someone is working on it.

Careful on the roads, too

On land, the municipality has kept its “Cruce Seguro” (safe crossing) operation going, with Civil Protection and traffic police watching roads and arroyos, the dry riverbeds that can suddenly run with water after a storm. The city asks drivers to slow down, keep their distance, and never cross an arroyo or dip in the road when water is flowing. In an emergency, call 911. For the background on this week’s storm, see our story on the rain from Tropical Storm Vance, and for what to expect in the coming months, our Cabo San Lucas weather page.

Sources: Tribuna de México, black flags on 31 beaches (October 28, 2026) and second day of beach restrictions (October 29, 2026); Ayuntamiento de Los Cabos, water hyacinth cleanup (October 29, 2026) and Operativo Cruce Seguro (October 30, 2026).