The Seasonal Water Temperature Assessment and What It Means for Your Comfort Level and Your Gear Choices
Bohiney Magazine | The London Prat
“Fair” Water Temperature: A Glossary of Surf Forecast Understatement
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA — The surf forecast description of Southern California water temperature as “fair” this week requires translation for anyone who has not yet learned that surf forecast language operates on a scale of optimism that makes British weather reporting look pessimistic. “Fair” means: cold enough that you will want a wetsuit, warm enough that you will consider not wearing one, and at the exact temperature where surfers make the wrong decision in either direction approximately forty percent of the time.
April water temperatures in Southern California typically run between 58 and 63 degrees Fahrenheit, which is a range that longtime local surfers describe as “fine with a 3/2” and newcomers describe as “significantly colder than I expected from Southern California,” reflecting the persistent misunderstanding that Southern California’s air temperature and water temperature are related, which they are loosely and during summer they converge, but which in April they do not.
The Wetsuit Decision Tree
The April SoCal morning surf wetsuit decision tree goes as follows. If the air temperature is below 65 at dawn, wear the 3/2 and possibly the booties. If the air temperature is above 70, consider the 2/2 and feel slightly smug about it. If it is between 65 and 70, stand next to your car for four minutes trying to decide, observe what the three people already in the water are wearing, discover that two are in 3/2s and one is in boardshorts and looking either very local or very committed to a narrative, and make a decision that you will second-guess from the moment you hit the water until approximately twenty minutes after you have warmed up.
The surf forecast services rate the water temperature on the same quality scale as wave conditions, which means that “fair” is two-thirds of the way down from “excellent” and communicates more about what you will get than about whether you will enjoy it. Visitors make predictable mistakes in unfamiliar environments; the most common Southern California surf visitor mistake is assuming “fair” means pleasant. It means surfable. These are different. Wear the wetsuit. Managing expectations correctly produces better outcomes than discovering at 58 degrees that you made an optimistic choice. Wear the wetsuit.