Puerto Escondido • Statistics for September

September: Hurricane Season Firepower

September is statistically the biggest swell month of the year by average height, with swell reaching 5.5-6ft (1.7m) and an average period of 13.1 seconds. The SSW window leads with 58.0 percent, while S contributes 20.0 percent and SW jumps to 14.0 percent. The 1.5-2m band is very well represented, and there are meaningful chunks of 2-2.5m energy from both SSW and SW. This is also the peak of eastern Pacific hurricane season, so tropical cyclones can occasionally boost the swell window with extra-long-period energy from the south and southwest.

Wind quality remains solid, with ideal offshore flow 39 percent of the time. WNW and W are still common at 14.5 and 13.8 percent respectively, but NW and NNW add another 16.6 percent, and E/ESE flow combines for close to 17 percent, giving the beach repeated clean morning windows. Water temp remains warm at 30.0°C, air temperatures average 22.8°C, and rainfall peaks at 7.13 mm/day. When a hurricane or strong tropical wave lines up with a clean offshore wind, September can serve up some of the heaviest waves of the year.