Blacks Beach • Statistics for August

August: Small, Warm and Windblown

August is typically the lowest point of the surf year at Blacks Beach. The average swell height falls to 0.9m (3ft) - the smallest month on record - and the long period of 13.6s does little to help when the direction is so poorly aligned. SW swells account for 45.9 percent of the wave energy, with WSW at 30.4 percent and SSW at 16.5 percent. The west-northwest swell window is almost non-existent at 0 percent in the NW and WNW categories. Wind conditions remain abysmal: ideal offshore flow is just 1 percent, while W (42.7 percent) and WSW (25.1 percent) blow onshore nearly all day. Water temp peaks for the year at 19.6°C (67°F), and air temps are warm at 21.6°C (71°F). The rare exception occurs when an Eastern Pacific tropical system pushes up from Baja and delivers a long-period S/SW swell with enough size to break the summer flatness, but those events are few and far between. Keep your expectations low in August.