Wickaninnish • Statistics for January

January: The Heart of the Winter Swell Window

January is the peak of the Pacific Northwest winter at Wickaninnish. The average swell height is a solid 1.9m (6ft), and with an average wave period of 12.3s, the groundswell marching into the beach carries serious power. Around 77% of all swell energy arrives from the optimal SSW through W window, led by WSW (28.7%) and W (21.4%). That means the beach is almost always exposed to clean, refracted west groundswell. Average heights cluster between 1 and 2.5m, so you can count on head-high-plus waves on the better peaks, with bigger sets whenever a strong North Pacific low lines up.

The wind story is also favorable in January. The ideal offshore score of 39% is the highest of the year, driven by a strong E and ENE outflow flow that blows straight offshore across the west-southwest-facing beach. Air temperatures average a cold 5.1°C, water temperature is 8.2°C, and precipitation is abundant at 10.16mm per day-realistically this is hood-and-boot weather. But when arctic outflow meets a 12-second west swell, Wickaninnish is one of the standout big-wave beaches on the island.