Bantham • Statistics for January

January: Peak of the Atlantic Storm Track

January delivers the heaviest average surf of the year at Bantham, with average wave heights around 7ft (2.2m) and a mean period of 9.7s. The dominant swell directions are WSW (21.5%), W (12.5%) and SW (8.7%), meaning the beach is directly exposed to the heart of the North Atlantic's westerly storm track. A large percentage of those waves arrive in the 5-8ft (1.5-2.5m) range, and there's a genuine chance of XL (over 8ft) clean-up sets when deep lows slam the Celtic Sea. Unfortunately, the wind gods don't always cooperate - ideal offshore flow occurs only 13% of the time. The synoptic pattern is dominated by low pressure, with southwesterly and westerly winds blowing 34% of the time, often at 20-40kph, shredding the wave faces. The best windows come with a transient high pressure ridge, when dry offshore winds from the NE through E quadrant clean up the swell. With air temps averaging 6.4°C and water temperature at 9.9°C, it's a raw, cold, powerful month - bring the thickest wetsuit and a critical eye on the charts.