Playa de Meron • Statistics for November

November: Storm Season Ignites

November brings a clear escalation in size and power at Playa de Meron. The average swell height rises to 1.8m (6ft) and the average period sits at 11.7s, making for consistent strong groundswell. NW swell accounts for 41.9 percent of observations, with WNW at 14.2 percent and NNW at 14.7 percent. A substantial portion of the NW energy is coming in at 1.5-2.5m (5-8ft), and there is already a meaningful share of 2-2.5m (6-8ft) waves. This is proper, firing autumn surf.

Ideal offshore wind reaches 35 percent, as S, SSW and SW winds become more frequent around Atlantic low-pressure systems. November is also the wettest month of the year at Playa de Meron, with 4.27 mm/day of rain, as frontal systems barrel through the Bay of Biscay. The trade-off is that W and WNW winds often accompany these systems, and when the wind is westerly instead of southwesterly the surf turns bumpy and less organized. Still, when the wind clocks south of west, the offshore flow produces powerful, lined-up waves. Water temperature drops to 15.8°C and air temperature averages 13.1°C. The winter surf engine is now fully running.