Good Rats • Statistics for August

August: Late-Summer Lull with a Hurricane Wildcard

August remains in the low season, but there is a twist. The average swell height is essentially identical to July at 4-5ft (1.4m), with an average period of 9.8s - the shortest of the year. Swell direction is once again dominated by WSW (30.5%), SW (30.2%) and SSW (14.7%), but most energy sits in the 1-1.5m (3-5ft) range. That said, August is also the heart of Atlantic hurricane season, and a well-tracked tropical cyclone can suddenly send very real, longer-period swell into the coast, overriding the seasonal averages and creating epic conditions.

Ideal offshore winds are scarce at 23%, with wind direction dominated by SSE (11.0%), S (10.0%), WNW (12.5%) and NW (10.4%). The onshore SSE flow is particularly bad for wave shape. Water temperature reaches its yearly warmest at 14.1°C (57.4°F), air temps average 12.9°C (55.2°F), and precipitation increases to 6.1mm/day. For the patient surfer, the reward is a rare storm swell breaking on a warm, crowded summer beach - but on average, conditions are small and sloppy.