Playa Bahoruco • Statistics for October

October: The Autumn Hinge

October is the month when the Atlantic surf year starts turning over. The averages still look tame - 0.8m (2.6ft) swell and 6.2s period, the shortest of the year - but the wind climate is changing in the right direction. Ideal offshore wind is 18%, tied for the best of the year, and the onshore trade winds are no longer as relentless. The swell remains ESE-heavy at 69.2%, with SE at 19.0%, so waves are still mostly small and windswell in nature. However, the increasing frequency of cold fronts and, in some years, a well-placed hurricane means October can produce the first legitimately excited surf charts of the season. Wave heights are 50% in the 0.5-1m (1.6-3.3ft) range and only 9.5% in the 1-1.5m (3.3-4.9ft) range in the averages, so you are still hunting for the outlier days. Water temp is 29.1°C, air temp 25.8°C, and rainfall is the highest of the year at 2.55 mm/day.