The short answer: 5 June to 2 July. Across 26 summers of data, these four weeks carry the fewest strong-wind days north of Menorca — the last of them just 1.1 %, against 12.6 % in the week of 15 May. But calm wind hides something else here, and that is what the rest of this page is about.
At a glance
Best week 26 June – 2 July — ×0.2 (1.1 % hard days, 2/26).
Week to avoid 15 May – 21 May — ×2.5 (12.6 %, 11/26).
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| Week | Wind risk | Hard days | Summers affected | Sea | Daylight | Rissagas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 May – 21 May | ×2.5 | 12.6 % | 11/26 | 19.6 °C | 14.4 h | 5 (max 120 cm) |
| 22 May – 28 May | ×1.5 | 7.7 % | 9/26 | 20.2 °C | 14.6 h | 10 (max 220 cm) |
| 29 May – 4 June | ×0.8 | 3.8 % | 3/26 | 21.0 °C | 14.8 h | 4 (max 197 cm) |
| 5 June – 11 June | ×0.7 | 3.3 % | 5/26 | 22.4 °C | 14.9 h | 10 (max 150 cm) |
| 12 June – 18 June | ×0.5 | 2.7 % | 5/26 | 23.2 °C | 15.0 h | 10 (max 500 cm) |
| 19 June – 25 June | ×0.5 | 2.7 % | 4/26 | 24.5 °C | 15.0 h | 13 (max 400 cm) |
| 26 June – 2 July | ×0.2 | 1.1 % | 2/26 | 25.5 °C | 15.0 h | 9 (max 300 cm) |
| 3 July – 9 July | ×0.5 | 2.7 % | 4/26 | 26.2 °C | 14.9 h | 15 (max 190 cm) |
| 10 July – 16 July | ×1.1 | 5.5 % | 6/26 | 26.5 °C | 14.8 h | 13 (max 175 cm) |
| 17 July – 23 July | ×0.9 | 4.4 % | 6/26 | 26.9 °C | 14.6 h | 9 (max 140 cm) |
| 24 July – 30 July | ×0.4 | 2.2 % | 3/26 | 26.6 °C | 14.4 h | 10 (max 200 cm) |
| 31 July – 6 Aug | ×1.3 | 6.6 % | 7/26 | 27.0 °C | 14.2 h | 13 (max 230 cm) |
| 7 Aug – 13 Aug | ×0.9 | 4.4 % | 7/26 | 27.5 °C | 14.0 h | 6 (max 190 cm) |
| 14 Aug – 20 Aug | ×0.8 | 3.8 % | 4/26 | 27.7 °C | 13.7 h | 7 (max 147 cm) |
| 21 Aug – 27 Aug | ×0.5 | 2.7 % | 4/26 | 27.8 °C | 13.4 h | 2 (max 125 cm) |
| 28 Aug – 3 Sept | ×1.4 | 7.1 % | 7/26 | 27.3 °C | 13.2 h | 3 (max 195 cm) |
| 4 Sept – 10 Sept | ×1.7 | 8.8 % | 10/26 | 26.8 °C | 12.9 h | 6 (max 96 cm) |
| 11 Sept – 17 Sept | ×2.0 | 10.0 % | 8/26 | 26.5 °C | 12.6 h | 5 (max 200 cm) |
The tramuntana, and what it doesn’t tell you
North of Menorca, a day counts as hard above 23.7 knots of sustained wind. Across 26 summers, 96 % of the hours above 22 knots come from the northern sector: that is the tramuntana, and nothing else. It is rare in summer, but it settles in for several days when it comes.
The real trap is calendrical. The worst week of the summer is not in August, it is 15-21 May: two and a half times the norm, and six summers out of twenty-six affected. At that date the Mediterranean has not yet switched to its summer regime.
The rissaga: the hazard no forecast will show you
This is the Balearics’ counter-intuition, and nobody mentions it. The calmest week of the summer for wind — 26 June to 2 July, 1.1 % hard days over 26 years — is also the one that opens the rissaga peak.
A rissaga is a sea-level oscillation inside closed harbours, with a period of minutes and sometimes an amplitude of several metres. The University of the Balearic Islands catalogue lists 191 events above 60 cm at Ciutadella between 1975 and 2025, 147 of them in summer. The two most violent ever measured — 500 cm on 15 June 2006, 400 cm on 21 June 1984 — both fall in June.
It is triggered by light wind and a south-westerly flow aloft: exactly the conditions a crew reads as fine weather. The practical consequence fits in one sentence: in June and July, you do not spend the night in Ciutadella harbour. At an open anchorage a rissaga does not reach you — it is the head of the inlet that resonates.
How these figures are produced
Hourly ERA5 reanalysis over 26 summers (2000-2025) at an open-sea point, calibrated against stations that actually measure — the AEMET, Météo-France and NOAA networks. The “hard day” threshold is the local 95th percentile, never a shared value: 23.7 knots here. The comparison is made on ranks, not on knots, because the gap between measured and modelled gusts ranges from half a knot to thirty-one depending on the coast.
One caveat, because it matters: this index measures frequency, not severity. A week rated very calm can still hold the worst day of the decade.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best month to sail the Balearics?
June, without hesitation, for wind: the four weeks from 5 June to 2 July are the calmest of the last 26 years. September gives the finest breeze and the warmest sea, but it is also the gateway to violent rain episodes.
Is the water warm in June in the Balearics?
It rises from 22.4 °C in early June to 25.5 °C at the end of the month. Swimming is comfortable from mid-June onwards. The maximum, 27.8 °C, comes in late August.
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