Perranporth • Statistics for January

January: The Heart of the North Atlantic Roar

January is statistically the meat of the winter at Perranporth. The average swell height sits at a solid 7ft (2.2m) and the average period is a powerful 12.1 seconds, meaning the Atlantic is rarely short on energy. Westerly swells dominate completely - pure W accounts for 34.2% of all observations and WSW adds another 10.9%, while WNW and NW combine for 12.6%. A significant chunk of this energy falls in the 1.5-2.5m (5-8ft) range, so exposed Perranporth will be handling powerful, heavily-pulsed sets. The downside is wind: WSW and SW winds blow around 22% of the time, and W through NW winds are also common, putting a lot of surface chop on the waves. Offshore ENE/ESE/SE flow is limited to roughly 19%, often arriving as high pressure builds over Europe. With air temperatures averaging just 7.8°C and water at 9.7°C, it is a cold, winter-wetsuit, thick-rubber month - but when the wind clocks east, the combination of long-period W swell and glassy offshore conditions is as good as it gets.