Diurnal variations of coastal surface wind speed are analyzed with five years of hourly wind from Port Aransas, Texas. These data reveal the highest frequency of occurrence of the nighttime wind maximum near midnight, especially during those seasons when onshore flow prevails. Nighttime wind maxima with a southerly component occurred approximately three times more frequently than with a northerly component on the annual average. The neutral atmospheric stability prevails near the coast. Thus it allows downward transfer of momentum from the nocturnal low level jet under the onshore wind situation and strong wind shear between an elevated frontal and ground-based inversion for offshore wind, resulting in the nocturnal coastal surface wind maximum.