Plate I · Between El Jadida and Safi
Oualidia
Short answer
Best months for Oualidia (32.74° N · 9.04° W) in the data: July (50% of days ≥ 12 kn, mean 11.7 kn), May (40%), August (39%). Calmest: December (10%). Across the year an average of 26% of days reach 12 knots. In the best months the dominant wind is from the north. Offshore sea temperature ranges from 17.2 to 20.4 °C depending on the month.
The spot
Oualidia is a village on the Atlantic coast between El Jadida and Safi, built beside a protected natural lagoon and known for its oysters.
It offers calm lagoon water as well as an ocean beach. In the wind data it is clearly lighter than Essaouira: its best month, July, has a daytime mean of 11.7 kn and half of the days reach 12 kn.
Wind, month by month
ERA5 reanalysis 2015–2024, wind at 10 m, daytime 11:00–18:00 Moroccan clock time of the period, ≈ 10:00–17:00 on today’s UTC+0 clock.
Monthly wind statistics, Oualidia
| Month | Avg wind (kn) | Days ≥ 12 kn | Days ≥ 15 kn | Directions (hours ≥ 8 kn) | Air max (°C) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 7.6 | 11% | 4% | NE 50 · N 22 · SW 15 | 18.1 |
| Feb | 8.6 | 18% | 6% | NE 40 · N 34 · SW 11 | 18.4 |
| Mar | 10.0 | 29% | 9% | N 38 · NE 29 · SW 12 | 19.1 |
| Apr | 10.2 | 28% | 6% | N 46 · NE 20 · W 14 | 20.7 |
| May | 11.2 | 40% | 13% | N 60 · NE 15 · W 11 | 22.5 |
| Jun | 10.7 | 34% | 6% | N 71 · NW 12 · W 8 | 23.9 |
| Jul | 11.7 | 50% | 5% | N 84 · NE 10 · NW 3 | 25.8 |
| Aug | 11.1 | 39% | 3% | N 80 · NE 14 · NW 4 | 26.5 |
| Sep | 9.4 | 19% | 1% | N 74 · NE 13 · NW 6 | 25.6 |
| Oct | 8.6 | 17% | 5% | N 51 · NE 19 · SW 16 | 24.6 |
| Nov | 8.0 | 13% | 2% | NE 40 · N 32 · SW 17 | 21.6 |
| Dec | 7.3 | 10% | 5% | NE 53 · SW 22 · N 11 | 19.5 |
Directions: share (%) of daytime hours at 8 knots or more, for the three most frequent sectors. Air max: mean of daily daytime maximum air temperature.
The sea: temperature and offshore swell
Open-Meteo Marine API, monthly means 2022–2024 at the nearest offshore model point. These are not beach wave heights.
Sea off Oualidia (32.74° N · 9.06° W)
| Month | Sea temp. (°C) | Offshore waves (m) | Period (s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 17.8 | 2.0 | 11.3 |
| Feb | 17.3 | 2.1 | 11.5 |
| Mar | 17.2 | 2.5 | 11.3 |
| Apr | 17.6 | 1.8 | 9.1 |
| May | 17.5 | 1.5 | 8.1 |
| Jun | 19.9 | 1.4 | 7.6 |
| Jul | 19.1 | 1.4 | 7.0 |
| Aug | 18.9 | 1.5 | 7.4 |
| Sep | 20.1 | 1.4 | 8.7 |
| Oct | 20.4 | 1.9 | 10.0 |
| Nov | 19.4 | 2.0 | 11.3 |
| Dec | 18.5 | 1.9 | 10.8 |