Nine Palms • Statistics for April

April: The Peak of the Long-Period Window

April delivers the highest average wave period of the year at 14.1s. The swell window narrows dramatically to S and SSW: SSW supplies 75% of the energy and S another 22%, with almost no contribution from the north. That impressive period allows the 3.3ft (1m) average swell to push well into the beach and produce clean, long walls. At the same time, the 3-5ft (0.9-1.5m) category expands significantly-roughly 38% of the total distribution is in that fun-to-solid range, and a small but welcome 5-6.5ft (1.5-2m) component appears. The wind is less cooperative than winter, with ideal conditions falling to 51%; ESE and SE winds are the growing onshore threat, especially in the afternoon.

Temperatures begin to warm, with air averaging 23.1°C and water 22.3°C, while precipitation stays minimal at 0.06mm/day. The window for great surf is early morning: the night-time offshore flow often leaves a clean surface until the solar heating builds the onshore sea breeze. With 14-second energy and a SSW angle that wraps into the east-southeast-facing coast, April can unlock the best rail-to-rail surfing of the spring.