Port Alfred • Statistics for January

January: Summer Easterlies and the Occasional S-SSW Pulse

January is the peak of the South African summer, and at Port Alfred the surf is defined more by wind than by raw swell. The average swell height sits at 1.7m (5.6ft) with a period of 10.2s - enough push to make the S and SSW swells rideable, but not the long-period juice of winter. Direction-wise, SSW is the top swell source at 24.7%, followed by S at 18.9%, SSE at 13.8% and SE at 12.1%; most of this energy falls in the 1-2m (3-6.5ft) range, with a useful chunk of SSW swell in the 1.5-2.5m (5-8ft) class. The wind story is the problem. ENE flow is the most common at 20.6%, E adds 14.3%, and onshore S/SSW/SW/WSW combines for around 37%. Ideal offshore N/NNW/NW/WNW flow is limited to 20% of the time, so the windows are usually early morning before the seabreeze takes over. When that offshore land-breeze lines up with a fading S/SSW groundswell, Port Alfred produces clean, punchy waves, but by midday the ENE/E flow usually adds surface texture. Water temperature is 19.8°C, air temperature averages 22.7°C, and precipitation runs 2.36 mm/day.