Blacks Beach Surf Season
California, USA · part of the Blacks Beach spot guide
Blacks is a genuine year-round, dual-season break because the canyon focusing works on energy from two ocean engines. Winter, November through March, is prime: west-northwest groundswell from North Pacific storms, when the swell is most powerful and cleanest and January is the most consistent month. Summer, May through September, brings long-period south groundswell wrapping up from the Southern Hemisphere — longer, rippable walls, but generally smaller-faced here than an equivalent west swell.
Where the swell comes from
Two engines feed it through the canyons: Aleutian and Gulf-of-Alaska storms for the prime winter west-northwest groundswell, and Southern Hemisphere storms for the summer south swell.
Historic swells at Blacks Beach
Hurricane Marie
A Category-5 eastern Pacific hurricane produced the largest south swell in two decades; Blacks saw a more modest ~8 ft because the south angle required a wrap into its west-facing setup — a clean illustration of why it favors west-northwest.
The El Niño winter
A back-to-back North Pacific storm train drove repeated large, clean west-northwest groundswell — exactly Blacks’ wheelhouse — and it fired all winter.