Live forecast for Cathedrals Beach (Ribadeo, Lugo). Water temperature, wave height, wind, beach index 1-10 and best time to swim. Coordinates 43.5530, -7.1580.
Cathedrals Beach, officially Praia de Augas Santas, is a natural monument on the Cantabrian coast declared a site of cultural interest. Its rock arches and vaults up to 30 m high can only be visited at low tide. In summer a free advance booking is required on the Xunta de Galicia website.
Orientation: north, approximate length 1400 m, sand type: golden sand. No current Blue Flag award. Services: toilets, an information board, a cap on visitor numbers and no conventional beach facilities, because the site is protected. Access: From the N-634 between Ribadeo and Foz. Free parking 400 m away. No direct public transport.
The WhatAWeather beach index combines six meteorological variables into a 0-10 score: air temperature (best above 22 °C), sea surface temperature from the Open-Meteo Marine model (best above 20 °C), wind speed (best below 20 km/h), significant wave height (best below 0.8 m), cloud cover (best below 30 %) and accumulated rainfall (best below 0.5 mm). A value of 8-10 means perfect, 6-7 good, 4-5 acceptable and below 4 we advise against swimming.
For the official microbiological status of Spanish bathing waters consult the NAYADE system run by the Spanish Ministry of Health. WhatAWeather displays an informational jellyfish warning when sea temperature exceeds 23 °C and the wind blows from the east (levante), a situation statistically correlated with sightings in the Mediterranean and the Strait of Gibraltar. This is an orientation indicator and does not replace official Red Cross or city council bulletins.
The sea is at its warmest in August, averaging 21.0 °C, and at its coldest in March, at 13.4 °C. On land the month with the highest daily maxima is August, which averages 22.8 °C.
The sea holds above 20 °C in August. Outside those months a swim is possible but short, and in midwinter it is plainly cold without a wetsuit. The gap between air and sea temperature is the figure that misleads most: in August the air reaches 22.8 °C against 21.0 °C in the water. The real limit here is not temperature but the tide: at high water the beach disappears, and being caught out among the arches is the classic risk of the place.
In July and August the mean wave height is around 1.3 m, a shorebreak present almost daily, more for a board than for an inflatable. In winter the mean climbs to 2.3 m, with the annual peak in February at 2.5 m. The prevailing summer wind comes from the north-northeast, and the windiest month is March, when daily maximum gusts average 23 km/h.
July averages 10.9 hours of effective sunshine a day and 11.0 rain days across the month. July is also the driest month of the year, against November, the wettest, with 15.4 rain days; over the year as a whole it rains on about 166 days.
| Month | Max. air | Min. air | Sea | Wave | Max. gust | Rain days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 12.7 | 7.2 | 14.5 | 2.20 | 22 | 15.3 |
| February | 13.4 | 7.4 | 13.6 | 2.50 | 23 | 13.8 |
| March | 14.3 | 8.0 | 13.4 | 2.00 | 23 | 15.2 |
| April | 15.6 | 9.3 | 14.2 | 1.60 | 20 | 13.8 |
| May | 17.7 | 11.7 | 15.3 | 1.40 | 19 | 13.5 |
| June | 19.8 | 14.3 | 17.0 | 1.30 | 17 | 14.4 |
| July | 22.0 | 16.4 | 19.5 | 1.20 | 18 | 11.0 |
| August | 22.8 | 16.9 | 21.0 | 1.40 | 18 | 12.5 |
| September | 21.5 | 15.1 | 18.8 | 1.50 | 18 | 11.8 |
| October | 19.6 | 13.2 | 18.1 | 1.70 | 21 | 14.7 |
| November | 15.9 | 10.3 | 16.3 | 2.30 | 22 | 15.4 |
| December | 14.5 | 8.8 | 15.3 | 2.20 | 22 | 14.8 |
These are climatological means, not a forecast: they describe what has happened on average over the past decade, and any single day can depart a long way from them. The sea column holds the mean of the daily maximum sea-surface temperature, and the wave column the mean of the day's highest significant wave height. The beach index above, by contrast, is computed from today's forecast, combining air and sea temperature, waves, wind, cloud and rain — which is why it can contradict the table on any given day.
