Pacific City • Surf Spot Statistics

Best Surf Season (October - March)

Pacific City is a west-facing slab into the North Pacific, and the winter months are when this stretch of Oregon coast roars to life. The Aleutian Low cranks up, strong extratropical storms parade across the North Pacific, and the average surf height jumps from around 5ft (1.5m) in September to 6-9ft (1.8-2.7m) from October through March. W, WNW, and WSW swells dominate the waverose, which is exactly the window this beach needs. Periods average 11-13 seconds, so the energy is powerful and long-period. More importantly, ideal offshore wind windows from NE to ESE are much more common in this half of the year - 25-35% of the time - giving you clean, racy peaks between frontal passages. When a cold front passes and high pressure builds behind it, the combination of big W/WNW swell and offshore east wind is nothing short of epic.

Fair Surf Season (April and September)

April and September are transition months. April still has solid W/WNW swell - average 6.9ft (2.1m) at 11.6 seconds - but the North Pacific High starts to push the storm track north, and north winds become more persistent, lowering the ideal wind percentage to around 20%. September is the mirror image: the surf is smaller at 4.9ft (1.5m) but the wind is beginning to swing back offshore, with ideal conditions 28% of the time. You can score fun, rippable waves in both months if you play the tides and wait for early-morning offshore breezes.

Low Surf Season (May - August)

Summer is the ocean's siesta. The North Pacific High locks in, the storm track retreats to the Gulf of Alaska, and Pacific City's average swell height drops to 4-5ft (1.2-1.5m) with periods of 10 seconds or less. The waverose shifts north to WNW and NW groundswell - still rideable, but weaker and less organized. At the same time, the thermal low along the coast cranks out persistent NNW winds, showing up 30-55% of the time and making ideal offshore wind conditions scarce at just 9-15%. Surface chop and lumpy cross-shore wind are the norm, so it is generally a groveling, high-tide drift session rather than a proper Northwest winter day. Still, if a summer NW groundswell lines up and the wind drops at dawn, Pacific City can offer a few fun ones.