France / Normandy
Utah Beach
Utah Beach is a 2.2 km-long beach facing east-north-east on the Baie de la Seine, 10.4 km west of Grandcamp-Maisy (Normandy, France). The sea averages 18.0 °C in August, its warmest month, and 8.1 °C in February; it never reaches 21 °C on average.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
Reference
Utah, commonly known as Utah Beach, was the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944 (D-Day), during World War II. The westernmost of the five code-named landing beaches in Normandy, Utah is on the Cotentin Peninsula, west of the mouths of the Douve and Vire rivers.
Wikidata item Q757273.
Month by month
October at Utah Beach
Beach-day index 2.4/10 · France median 4.9
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 9.0 °C | 8.1 °C | 8.2 °C | 9.5 °C | 11.6 °C | 14.3 °C | 16.6 °C | 18.0 °C | 17.8 °C | 16.1 °C | 13.4 °C | 10.8 °C |
| High °C | 9° | 8° | 9° | 12° | 14° | 17° | 19° | 20° | 18° | 16° | 12° | 10° |
| Low °C | 6° | 6° | 7° | 8° | 11° | 14° | 16° | 17° | 15° | 13° | 10° | 7° |
| Rain mm | 84 | 69 | 64 | 44 | 52 | 46 | 50 | 58 | 55 | 87 | 98 | 101 |
| Cloud % | 77 | 75 | 70 | 62 | 64 | 63 | 61 | 63 | 62 | 73 | 77 | 77 |
| Wind m/s | 8.2 | 7.8 | 7.0 | 5.8 | 5.8 | 5.4 | 5.5 | 5.6 | 6.2 | 7.2 | 7.8 | 8.2 |
| Daylight h | 8.6 | 10.1 | 11.8 | 13.7 | 15.3 | 16.2 | 15.9 | 14.5 | 12.7 | 10.9 | 9.2 | 8.2 |
| Record high/low | 13°/-0° | 15°/-2° | 16°/-1° | 20°/3° | 22°/7° | 26°/10° | 29°/13° | 31°/14° | 26°/12° | 24°/6° | 18°/3° | 14°/1° |
| Beach index | 1.9 | 2.1 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 2.6 | 2.8 | 4.1 | 4.7 | 4.0 | 2.4 | 1.8 | 1.7 |
Long-term monthly averages: air from NASA POWER (2001–2020), sea from NOAA OISST (1991–2020); records are the extremes of 2001–2020. How the index works.
When to go
No month reaches 5.5 on the beach-day index; the best is August at 4.7/10, held back mainly by cool air (highs of 20 °C) and cold water (18.0 °C).
At its warmest the water here is 4.1 °C cooler than the France median for August (22.1 °C).
Across the year the sea averages 12.8 °C, cooler than 81% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
December is the wettest month (101 mm) and April the driest (44 mm); the yearly total is about 810 mm.
Daylight runs from 8.2 hours in December to 16.2 hours in June; in mid-August the sun rises at 06:54 and sets at 21:24 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces east-north-east (60°). Open water fills about 47% of the horizon close by, which makes it an open stretch of shore.
At no time of year does the sun set over the sea here: sunset bearings run from 234° to 309°, behind the land.
Sunrise is over the sea in every month.
Straight out to the east-north-east the next coast is roughly 200 km away, so waves are mostly wind-driven sea rather than ocean swell.
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 2 m deep and 6 m at 3 km, a shallow, gently shelving sea floor. Behind the beach the ground is about 3 m above sea level 500 m inland and 1 m at 1.5 km, a flat coastal plain.
Within 1 km, the land is 79% grassland, 7% cropland and 6% tree cover (satellite land-cover map, 2021): a largely natural setting. Water makes up 43% of that circle.
- Grass 79%
- Crop 7%
- Tree 6%
- Bare 5%
- Built 3%
Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m). Orientation from OpenStreetMap land polygons sampled in 36 directions; depths and heights from the GEBCO 2020 grid (about 450 m cells), indicative only.
The sea peaks at 18.0 °C in August. Most swimmers find water below 20 °C cold; a wetsuit is common here.
Average wind speed at 10 m reaches 8.2 m/s in January, the windiest month.
OpenStreetMap shows no lifeguard station within 1 km. Seasonal lifeguard posts are often unmapped, so check on site.
Photos
From above
Facilities within 1 km
- 2Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 2Public toilets
- –Showers
- 1Drinking water
- 8Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 3Hotels & guesthouses
- 3Campsites
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 1 restaurant and 1 café. Accommodation: 3 hotels and guesthouses.
Counted within 1 km of the beach (bus stops 1.5 km) from OpenStreetMap features and Overture Maps places, release of 2026-10. Unmapped does not mean absent.
Around the beach
Attractions & museums
- Musée du Débarquement de Utah Beach museum 30 m S
Campsites
- Camping Paradis Utah Beach 650 m NW
- Flower Camping Utah Beach 920 m W
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caen Carpiquet airport Caen | CFR | 58.1 km | south-east |
| Jersey Airport St. Peter | JER | 77.6 km | west |
| Alderney Airport Saint Anne | ACI | 82.1 km | north-west |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 8 mapped car parks within 1 km.
No town of 1,000+ people lies within 10 km; within 30 km there are 15 (about 39.9K).
When people look it up
The EN Wikipedia article was read 106,549 times in the 12 months to August 2026. Interest peaks in June (16,863 views), 2.7× the quietest month.
Map and nearby beaches
Loading map…
Open in OpenStreetMap · Directions in Google Maps
| Beach | Distance | Warmest sea | Length | Surface |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Utah Beach | – | 18.0 °C | 2.2 km | – |
| Omaha Beach | 21.6 km E | 18.1 °C | – | – |
| Normandy Beach | 40.5 km E | 18.2 °C | 94 m | – |
- Omaha Beach21.6 km ECompare
- Normandy Beach40.5 km ECompare
Data on this page
- Air temperature, rain, cloud, wind, humidity: NASA POWER climatology 2001–2020, 0.5° grid.
- Sea temperature: NOAA OISST v2.1 monthly normals 1991–2020, nearest ocean cell 5.2 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w258074739; restaurants, cafés, bars and lodging: Overture Maps places (CDLA-Permissive-2.0).
- Water body, status and length: Wikidata (CC0).
- Towns and time zone: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Airports: OurAirports (public domain). Sunrise and sunset: NOAA solar equations.
- Photos: Wikimedia Commons, author and licence under each image.
- Satellite view: Copernicus Sentinel-2 (ESA), scene S2B_30UXV_20250402_0_L2A.
- Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 70 Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.