Watergate Bay • Statistics for January

January: Prime Time on the North Cornwall Coast

January is Watergate Bay at its most powerful. The average swell is a serious 7ft (2.2m) and the average wave period is 12.1s, squarely in the powerful long-period groundswell class. W direction swells dominate the table at 34%, with WSW and WNW adding another 20%, and those are exactly the directions that light up this west-north-west facing beach. Wave heights in the 5-8ft (1.5-2.5m) range are common, and the occasional pulse over 8ft (2.5m) is not unusual. The limiting factor is wind. Only 23% of the time is the wind ideal, and WSW/W/WNW/NW onshore flows account for a huge slice of the distribution, particularly when low pressure sits close to Iceland or the Western Approaches. The best January conditions come when a ridge of high pressure builds to the east and the wind turns E/SE offshore, transforming the bay into clean, grinding peaks. Air temps average 7.8°C, water temp is 9.7°C, and with 3.78mm/day of precipitation you will be earning every wave between cold showers.