United States / Virginia
Yorktown Beach
Yorktown Beach is a 564 m-long sandy beach in Yorktown (Virginia, United States). The sea averages 25.9 °C in August, its warmest month, and 5.1 °C in February; it is 21 °C or warmer in June–September.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
Month by month
October at Yorktown Beach
Beach-day index 5.5/10 · United States median 4.5
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 6.4 °C | 5.1 °C | 7.4 °C | 12.0 °C | 17.0 °C | 22.2 °C | 25.4 °C | 25.9 °C | 24.2 °C | 19.8 °C | 14.0 °C | 9.6 °C |
| High °C | 7° | 8° | 11° | 17° | 22° | 27° | 30° | 29° | 26° | 20° | 14° | 10° |
| Low °C | 1° | 1° | 4° | 10° | 15° | 21° | 23° | 23° | 20° | 14° | 8° | 4° |
| Rain mm | 75 | 71 | 86 | 89 | 100 | 113 | 130 | 138 | 122 | 110 | 82 | 95 |
| Cloud % | 59 | 60 | 57 | 54 | 57 | 56 | 55 | 54 | 52 | 50 | 50 | 59 |
| Wind m/s | 5.0 | 4.9 | 4.9 | 4.9 | 4.2 | 3.8 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 4.5 | 4.7 | 4.8 |
| Daylight h | 9.9 | 10.8 | 11.9 | 13.1 | 14.1 | 14.7 | 14.5 | 13.6 | 12.5 | 11.3 | 10.2 | 9.6 |
| Record high/low | 19°/-11° | 20°/-12° | 24°/-9° | 29°/1° | 33°/5° | 35°/12° | 37°/18° | 36°/18° | 33°/12° | 33°/5° | 24°/-2° | 22°/-8° |
| Beach index | 2.6 | 2.7 | 2.6 | 2.7 | 5.5 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 8.5 | 5.5 | 2.7 | 2.5 |
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–September; September scores 8.5/10 with highs of 26 °C, sea at 24.2 °C and 122 mm of rain.
In September that is 1.1 points above the median of the 2,466 beaches in United States covered by this atlas.
At its warmest the water here is 3.4 °C warmer than the United States median for August (22.5 °C).
Across the year the sea averages 15.8 °C, cooler than 69% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
August is the wettest month (138 mm) and February the driest (71 mm); the yearly total is about 1,210 mm.
Daylight runs from 9.6 hours in December to 14.7 hours in June; in mid-September the sun rises at 06:47 and sets at 19:15 local time.
Setting
Within 1 km, the land is 57% tree cover, 26% grassland and 12% built-up land (satellite land-cover map, 2021): a largely natural setting. Water makes up 52% of that circle.
- Tree 57%
- Grass 26%
- Built 12%
- Wetland 4%
Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m).
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
- 14Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 3Public toilets
- –Showers
- 2Drinking water
- 19Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 5Hotels & guesthouses
- 1Marinas & slipways
- 4Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 2Bike rental
- 2Historic sites
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 8 restaurants, 3 cafés and 3 bars. Accommodation: 5 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
- Cornwallis' Cave attraction 140 m S
- Nelson House museum 260 m SW
- York County Historical Museum museum 280 m W
- Watermen's Museum museum 550 m NW
Historic sites
- Old Custom House monument 260 m SW
- Yorktown Victory Monument monument 320 m S
Nature
- Cornwallis' Cave cave entrance 140 m S
- Colonial National Historical Park nature reserve 660 m SE
Lighthouses & piers
- Yorktown FIshing Pier pier 170 m SE
Marinas
- Riverwalk Landing 260 m N
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newport News Williamsburg International Airport Newport News | PHF | 11.7 km | south |
| Norfolk International Airport Norfolk | ORF | 46.6 km | south-east |
| Richmond International Airport Richmond | RIC | 77.9 km | north-west |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 4 bus stops within 1.5 km and 19 mapped car parks within 1 km.
2 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 9.6K residents); within 30 km there are 10 (about 512.6K).
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 35.9 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w916071533; 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 S2A_18SUG_20250725_0_L2A.
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 18.1K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.