El Faro • Statistics for January

January: Summer Swell From the Wrong Direction

January is classic South Pacific summer. The South Pacific High is strong, the westerly storm track is pushed south, and El Faro is left staring at a swell window full of almost nothing from the N/NNW. The average swell height comes in around 2.5m (8ft) with a 12.1s period, but that energy is aimed overwhelmingly from SSW (7.4%), SW (29.4%) and WSW (17.2%). With the beach facing NNW, this southwest groundswell is severely shadowed; the tiny NW/NNW share of 0.5% and 0.1% is like a distant rumor. Wind is an even bigger tease: S and SSW flow combine for 79% of observations, with strong 30-50kph breezes, but ideal clean-surf conditions only occur 13% of the time because the right swell direction never lines up with the right wind. Air temps average 16.3°C (range 10-26°C), water temperature is 15.1°C, and rainfall is very low at 0.45 mm/day. Expect small, fat, gutless waves on the sandbars unless a rare NW pulse sneaks through.