Daytona Beach • Statistics for January

January: Nor'easter Pulse and Post-Frontal Clean-Ups

January sits firmly in the core of Daytona's winter window. Average swell height is a modest 2.3ft (0.7m), but the aggregate direction numbers tell a promising story: the NNE, NE, ENE and E quadrants combine for 57% of all swell energy, with the strongest concentration in the 1.6-3.3ft (0.5-1m) size class. Periods average around 8.0s, putting the surf in the 'average, punchy and rideable' range. The issue is wind. A great chunk of the month is dominated by NNW and northwest winds associated with cold fronts; however, after the fronts pass, west and southwest winds blow cleanly offshore, and the ideal-wind window opens roughly 21% of the time. On those days, NE and ENE groundswell often mixes with a light W/SW breeze to produce clean, shoulder-high peaks along the sandbars.

With an average air temperature of 14.7°C and water temperature near 19.3°C, it is still winter - a 4/3 wetsuit is the go-to for dawn patrol, and the more active cold-front stretches are what keep the average from going totally flat.