Gold Beach • Statistics for June

June: The Summer Transition Kicks In

June continues the slide into summer and the surf turns noticeably smaller. The average swell height is 5ft (1.5m) and the average period drops to 10.2s - a classic summer mix of shorter-period windswell and leftover groundswell. Northwesterly directions rule the wave rose: NW and WNW each account for roughly a quarter of the observations, with W and NNW filling in the gaps. For a WSW-facing beach, these NW/NNW swells are far from ideal, and the wave quality is often compromised by the strong summer wind regime. NNW winds blow a massive 37.5 percent of the time, and N winds add another 19.4 percent, frequently at 20-40kph. That leaves only 14 percent ideal wind, one of the lowest marks of the year. Air temperatures rise to 13.1°C, rain becomes scarce at 1.14mm/day, and water temp sits at 11.4°C. It's a month for small-wave equipment, the early-morning tide push and a very selective approach.