Cannon Beach • Statistics for July

July: Summer Windswell Hold

July is typically the slowest month of the year at Cannon Beach. The average swell height bottoms out around 3-4ft (1.1m) with a period of 9.7s, and the swell window shifts even further north to WNW, which supplies 47.5 percent of observations. This is mostly short- to mid-period northwest windswell and background sea, not the powerful long-period groundswell of winter. The west-facing beach will see crumbly, small waves, best suited to a high-volume shortboard or a groveler.

Wind conditions make things even harder. The local sea breeze regime is at its strongest, with NNW winds at 46 percent and NW at 17 percent. Ideal offshore winds from the east are almost absent at under 1 percent, and the wind is ideal for surfing just 7 percent of the time. Onshore northerly winds groom the surface into lumpy, bumpy conditions for most of the day. When a rare morning offshore does align with a small NW swell, playful corners can still appear, but this is stop-and-go surf for the dedicated summer frother. Air temps are the warmest of the year at 15.0°C, water temp is 13.4°C, and rainfall is minimal at 0.67 mm/day.