Praia do Silveira • Statistics for March

March: The Autumn Shift Begins

March is where the South Atlantic pattern starts to transition. The average wave period ticks up to 8.6s and the swell spectrum becomes more SE and SSE dominated: ESE jumps to 28.6 percent, SE 21.0 percent and SSE 12.9 percent, while ENE fades to 9.5 percent. This is a crucial change for Praia do Silveira, because SE and ESE are nearly dead-on for the east-southeast-facing beach. The cold fronts are starting to nudge farther north into southern Brazil, and they leave behind longer-period swell plus a few more post-frontal offshore wind windows. Ideal conditions rise slightly to 26 percent. The winds are still predominantly from NNE (18.9 percent) and NE (10.6 percent), but SSW and SW winds also begin to appear more often-11.1 and 4.5 percent respectively-offering short windows of cleaner cross-shore flow. Swell heights remain a consistent 1.2m (4ft), with plenty of 1-1.5m peaks and an increasing number of 1.5-2m sets. Air temps cool to 22.8°C and water remains warm at 25.2°C. The sea is autumn-turning: still smallish, but the quality is on the upswing.