diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7ec0f622317c..164bf632db53 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@
 - [[PR 1031]](https://github.com/parthenon-hpc-lab/parthenon/pull/1031) Fix bug in non-cell centered AMR
 
 ### Infrastructure (changes irrelevant to downstream codes)
+- [[PR 1121]](https://github.com/parthenon-hpc-lab/parthenon/pull/1121) Default initialize BndInfo.dir
 - [[PR 1116]](https://github.com/parthenon-hpc-lab/parthenon/pull/1116) Fix NumPy 2.0 test script breakage
 - [[PR 1055]](https://github.com/parthenon-hpc-lab/parthenon/pull/1055) Refactor mesh constructors
 - [[PR 1066]](https://github.com/parthenon-hpc-lab/parthenon/pull/1066) Re-introduce default loop patterns and exec spaces
diff --git a/src/bvals/comms/bnd_info.hpp b/src/bvals/comms/bnd_info.hpp
index c92148887338..5c56e54ff64a 100644
--- a/src/bvals/comms/bnd_info.hpp
+++ b/src/bvals/comms/bnd_info.hpp
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ struct BndInfo {
   int topo_idx[3]{0, 0, 0};
   SpatiallyMaskedIndexer6D idxer[3];
 
-  CoordinateDirection dir;
+  CoordinateDirection dir{CoordinateDirection::X0DIR};
   bool allocated = true;
   bool buf_allocated = true;
   int alloc_status;