Kai's Place • Statistics for January

January: Deep Winter, Deep Water

January is the heart of the wetsuit season. The average swell height sits at a hefty 2.9m (9.5ft) with a period of 11.8s, which puts almost every day into the powerful long-period category. The swell roses show a distinct bias toward SSW through WSW directions, with SSW at 8.6%, SW at 10.3% and WSW at 9.1%, while the ideal western window (WSW, W, WNW) adds up to just under 15% of total wave energy. That means solid, well-overhead lines even when the direction is not perfect. Winds are actually your friend in January: E, ENE, ESE and SE combine for about 44% of the wind distribution, and the monthly ideal wind score is 27%. Strong SE flows can blow straight offshore and groom the west-facing walls. You pay for it in cold - water temperature drops to 5.9°C (42.6°F), air averages 1.9°C and precipitation is heavy at 7.67 mm/day - but the North Pacific storm track is firing and Kai's Place reaps the reward.