Accurate Cozumel weather forecasts?

[geokr]

Best wishes on your trip, but January is January...

Yeah, Don, it is. Think I'm going to have to get my diving in early this trip and maybe head over to see the sights on the mainland when the Blue Norther comes in. Never been to Tulum and it's about time. That's a day trip, right? All in all, Cozumel in January is still a far better place to be than anywhere else I can think of!

 

[DandyDon]

Oh the norther may fizzle somewhere between here and there. Hope you get all the diving you're up to. If you want to see ruins, yeah first catch a ferry.

Tulum ruins are nice. Less than an hour's drive from PDC I think; my good map is loaned out. Half day trip counting ferry really if you hustle.

Coba ruins are less than an hour from Tulum I think. A full day trip with Tulum.

Chichen Itza and Ek Balam are another hour or so beyond Coba, and best done as a day and a half trip from Coz to see both.​

Take backpacks and 2 Qts/Lts of water anytime you get out of the car, more in the trunk.

 

[beachnik]

As Kari said, the wind is what will affect your diving - and those temps are about right - it gets chily at night and even during the day when a norte rolls through

I use buoyweather.com - but unless you subscribe to it, you can only see a couple of days out

Wind Guru or Wind Finder are the next best!

What you don't want to see on these are winds from the west, NW, or North any higher than 10 knots or so

The more easterly it is - the better!

Have a wonderful trip!

@Christi - I've been watching your site for a long time, when I see a recent dive trip report with water temp on your index page, I believe what it says. Do you have several recent 'in the water' temp reports?

Most of the other water temp reports I read, I consider either unreliable or misleading.

Dive Paradise (I'm not knocking them, they're long time friends) seems never to report anything other than 79F water temp (even when it's 82F). I've been watching it for years - maybe it has changed, but I never saw it happen. If you do a 'view source' on their home page, that weather table appears to be a standard html table with data that has to be manually updated (i.e., not streaming in from some other site).

I've tracked the closest real buoy (not a virtual buoy) for years - this NOAA buoy is east of Cozumel, but not too far:
NDBC - Station 42056
Water temp is read 1 meter below the buoy. Every time I read it, it's higher than what divers are getting on the reefs. I'm not saying the buoy is wrong, I'm saying the temps are different.

I just emailed some very experienced diver friends living in Cozumel. They've been getting water temp readings as low as 74F this week. As a matter of fact, I didn't bring the subject up, they did - because they're surprised at how low the temp is.

 

[DandyDon]

74?! :cold: CZM airport is reporting 57F now. Take a heavy jumpsuit (shorties are for jet skiers anyway), a beanie, and waterproof jacket with hood for SIs! Request water bottles that have not been in the cooler...