Manhattan Beach • Statistics for April

April: Clean Mornings and Southern-Hemisphere Swell

April keeps the average at 3ft (0.9m) with a 12.0-second period, but the character of the swell shifts. SW swell jumps to 18.5 percent and WSW to 38.7 percent, while W remains strong at 38.9 percent. This reflects a mix of leftover North Pacific winter groundswell and the first Southern-Hemisphere pulses arriving through the southwest window. The wind is the limiting factor. Ideal offshore conditions drop to 35 percent, and W/WSW/SW winds pick up to about 38 percent, pushing sessions toward the early morning and late evening. The saving grace is a much drier pattern: only 0.63 mm/day of rain and spring-like air temperatures near 15.1°C. Water temp hits the yearly minimum at 13.5°C, so it is still worth wearing full rubber. Early light-offshore sessions are the key to finding clean, lined-up surf before the sea breeze kicks in.