United States / Hawaii
Sunset Beach
Sunset Beach is a 4.8 km-long sandy beach facing north-west on the Pacific Ocean, 1.3 km north-east of Sunset Beach-Pūpūkea (Hawaii, United States). The sea averages 26.8 °C in September, its warmest month, and 23.9 °C in February; it stays at 21 °C or above all year.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
Reference
Sunset Beach is on the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii and known for big wave surfing during the winter season. The original Hawaiian name for this place is Paumalū.
Wikidata item Q7641228.
Month by month
October at Sunset Beach
Beach-day index 8.7/10 · United States median 4.5
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 24.3 °C | 23.9 °C | 24.0 °C | 24.3 °C | 25.0 °C | 25.6 °C | 26.0 °C | 26.5 °C | 26.8 °C | 26.7 °C | 26.0 °C | 25.0 °C |
| High °C | 24° | 23° | 23° | 24° | 25° | 25° | 26° | 26° | 26° | 26° | 26° | 25° |
| Low °C | 23° | 22° | 23° | 23° | 24° | 25° | 25° | 26° | 26° | 26° | 25° | 24° |
| Rain mm | 36 | 52 | 59 | 27 | 17 | 13 | 16 | 20 | 18 | 39 | 46 | 54 |
| Cloud % | 52 | 57 | 61 | 58 | 50 | 48 | 47 | 47 | 47 | 56 | 58 | 54 |
| Wind m/s | 6.2 | 6.6 | 6.7 | 7.1 | 6.5 | 7.4 | 7.6 | 7.4 | 6.8 | 6.4 | 6.9 | 6.8 |
| Daylight h | 10.9 | 11.4 | 12.0 | 12.6 | 13.2 | 13.5 | 13.3 | 12.9 | 12.3 | 11.7 | 11.1 | 10.8 |
| Record high/low | 25°/20° | 25°/19° | 25°/20° | 26°/19° | 26°/21° | 27°/23° | 28°/24° | 28°/24° | 29°/24° | 28°/24° | 27°/23° | 26°/21° |
| Beach index | 8.3 | 7.8 | 7.7 | 8.2 | 8.7 | 8.8 | 8.8 | 8.8 | 8.9 | 8.7 | 8.6 | 8.3 |
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 May–January; September scores 8.9/10 with highs of 26 °C, sea at 26.8 °C and 18 mm of rain.
In September that is 1.5 points above the median of the 2,466 beaches in United States covered by this atlas.
At its warmest the water here is 5.9 °C warmer than the United States median for September (20.9 °C).
Across the year the sea averages 25.3 °C, warmer than 77% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
March is the wettest month (59 mm) and June the driest (13 mm); the yearly total is about 400 mm.
Daylight runs from 10.8 hours in December to 13.5 hours in June; in mid-September the sun rises at 06:18 and sets at 18:36 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces north-west (310°). Open water fills about 47% of the horizon close by, which makes it an open stretch of shore.
The sun sets over the sea in every month; in mid-June it goes down at 19:15 local time on a bearing of 296°.
Straight out to the north-west there is open water for more than 2,000 km, so the beach is exposed to long ocean swell. The beach is on Oahu, an island of about 1,555 km².
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 17 m deep and 57 m at 3 km. Behind the beach the ground is about 72 m above sea level 500 m inland and 157 m at 1.5 km, so the beach is backed by steep slopes or cliffs.
Within 1 km, the land is 82% tree cover, 8% grassland and 6% built-up land (satellite land-cover map, 2021): a largely natural setting. Water makes up 54% of that circle.
- Tree 82%
- Grass 8%
- Built 6%
- Bare 4%
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.
Average wind speed at 10 m reaches 7.6 m/s in July, 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
- 7Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 3Public toilets
- –Showers
- 6Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 3Hotels & guesthouses
- 1Grocery shops
- 20Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 1Viewpoints
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 4 restaurants, 2 cafés and 1 fast-food outlet. 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
Viewpoints
- Rocky rights surf 250 m SW
Attractions & museums
- Ehukai Pillbox Hike attraction 810 m SW
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daniel K. Inouye International Airport Honolulu, Oahu | HNL | 41.1 km | south |
| Molokai Airport Kaunakakai | MKK | 114 km | south-east |
| Lihue Airport Lihue, Kauai | LIH | 138 km | west |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 20 bus stops within 1.5 km and 6 mapped car parks within 1 km.
5 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 19.4K residents); within 30 km there are 32 (about 274.4K).
When people look it up
The EN Wikipedia article was read 8,066 times in the 12 months to August 2026. Interest peaks in December (758 views), with little seasonal swing.
Map
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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 9.6 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w12541972; 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_4QEK_20230113_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 368K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.