Santa Maria • Statistics for January

January: Mid-Winter Power vs. Trade Wind Chop

The island is buried under the North Atlantic's winter storm track during January, with an average swell height of 2.0m (6-7ft) at a healthy 10.8s period. That is long-period, powerful groundswell, but the direction is stuck in the NNE (36.6%) and NNW (22.5%), with an added serving of N (12.6%) and NE (15.2%) - all a poor angle for this SE-facing beach. Swells from the ideal S/SW quadrant are virtually absent in the climatology. The extra energy is still visible: over 30% of waves in the NNE sector arrive in the 1.5-2.5m (5-8ft) band. However, the wind story is less inspiring. Favourable offshore NW/NNW flow only blows 8% of the time, while trades hammer out of the NE (61%) often at 20-40kph, creating lumpy, wind-blown conditions. Water temperature is 22.9°C, air temps average 22°C and rain is scarce at 0.69 mm/day. When a passing front nudges the wind into the NNW, Santa Maria can offer surprisingly heavy, though sectiony, waves.