United States / California
Pismo Beach
Pismo Beach is a coastal resort area in California, United States. Its longest mapped beach stretches about 261 m. The sea averages 15.4 °C in September, its warmest month, and 12.0 °C in April; it never reaches 21 °C on average.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
The sea peaks at 15.4 °C in September. Most swimmers find water below 20 °C cold; a wetsuit is common here.
OpenStreetMap shows no lifeguard station within 1 km. Seasonal lifeguard posts are often unmapped, so check on site.
Services in the resort
- 83Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 5Public toilets
- –Showers
- 1Drinking water
- 63Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 30Hotels & guesthouses
- 3Campsites
- 8Grocery shops
- 3Water-sports spots
- 2Playgrounds & water parks
- 3Cash machines
- 1Viewpoints
- 1Historic sites
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 66 restaurants, 6 cafés, 10 bars and 1 fast-food outlet. Accommodation: 30 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.
Month by month
October at Pismo Beach
Beach-day index 6.9/10 · United States median 4.5
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 13.4 °C | 13.2 °C | 12.8 °C | 12.0 °C | 12.2 °C | 13.0 °C | 14.4 °C | 15.0 °C | 15.4 °C | 15.4 °C | 14.7 °C | 13.8 °C |
| High °C | 15° | 16° | 18° | 20° | 24° | 28° | 29° | 29° | 28° | 24° | 19° | 15° |
| Low °C | 5° | 5° | 6° | 7° | 10° | 12° | 14° | 14° | 14° | 11° | 8° | 5° |
| Rain mm | 71 | 62 | 55 | 26 | 13 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 20 | 29 | 68 |
| Cloud % | 47 | 45 | 42 | 35 | 27 | 18 | 19 | 18 | 18 | 26 | 36 | 48 |
| Wind m/s | 3.4 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 3.3 | 3.1 | 2.9 | 3.0 | 3.2 | 3.5 |
| Daylight h | 10.0 | 10.9 | 11.9 | 13.0 | 14.0 | 14.5 | 14.3 | 13.5 | 12.5 | 11.4 | 10.4 | 9.8 |
| Record high/low | 27°/-4° | 26°/-1° | 29°/-0° | 35°/1° | 37°/4° | 41°/6° | 41°/10° | 40°/10° | 43°/8° | 38°/5° | 32°/-1° | 26°/-2° |
| Beach index | 3.0 | 3.1 | 3.4 | 4.7 | 6.6 | 7.3 | 7.3 | 7.3 | 7.4 | 6.9 | 4.3 | 3.0 |
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
The beach-day index peaks in June–October; September scores 7.4/10 with highs of 28 °C, sea at 15.4 °C and 3 mm of rain.
That matches the median for beaches in United States in the same month.
At its warmest the water here is 5.5 °C cooler than the United States median for September (20.9 °C).
Across the year the sea averages 13.8 °C, cooler than 78% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
January is the wettest month (71 mm) and August the driest (2 mm); the yearly total is about 360 mm.
Daylight runs from 9.8 hours in December to 14.5 hours in June; in mid-September the sun rises at 06:44 and sets at 19:11 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces west-south-west (240°). Open water fills about 25% of the horizon close by, which makes it an open stretch of shore.
The sun sets over the sea in September–April; in mid-December it goes down at 16:51 local time on a bearing of 242°.
The opposite shore is only about 500 m away to the west-south-west, which keeps the water sheltered from big waves.
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 15 m deep and 21 m at 3 km. Behind the beach the ground is about 37 m above sea level 500 m inland and 49 m at 1.5 km.
Within 1 km, the land is 57% built-up land, 17% grassland and 15% tree cover (satellite land-cover map, 2021): an urban beach. Water makes up 24% of that circle.
- Built 57%
- Grass 17%
- Tree 15%
- Bare 8%
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.
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Luis County Regional Airport San Luis Obispo | SBP | 10.5 km | north |
| Santa Maria Public Airport Captain G Allan Hancock Field Santa Maria | SMX | 31.9 km | south-east |
| Santa Barbara Municipal Airport Santa Barbara | SBA | 108 km | south-east |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 63 mapped car parks within 1 km.
5 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 48.8K residents); within 30 km there are 12 (about 242K).
Photos
From above
Around the beach
Attractions & museums
- San Francisco Aquarium attraction 180 m W
Historic sites
- Cindy Pieroni Memorial Bench monument 390 m SW
Nature
- Camp Hill peak 300 m E
Lighthouses & piers
- Pismo Beach Pier pier 600 m SW
Diving & boat hire
- Pismo Bikes 260 m S
- Pismo Beach Bike Rentals 440 m S
- Pedal Up Bikes & Boards 450 m S
Campsites
- Pismo Creek RV Resort 690 m SE
- Holiday RV Park 770 m SE
- Pismo Coast Village RV Resort 990 m S
Map
Loading map…
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 2.5 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w1552393712; restaurants, cafés, bars and lodging: Overture Maps places (CDLA-Permissive-2.0).
- 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 S2C_10SGD_20251211_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 135K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.