Capbreton • Statistics for February

February: Still Deep Winter, Still Firing

February looks a lot like January in the statistics, and that is a good thing for surfers. The average swell height is again 6ft (1.8m) with an average period of 12.9s, and the southwest-to-northwest quadrant accounts for roughly 77% of all swell. The WNW and NW directions alone make up nearly 75%, pushing consistent and powerful groundswell into the beach. This is also the month with the best balance of size and period: the combination of 10-14s groundswell and winter storm track activity makes for heavy, pitching waves on the outer sandbars. Ideal wind conditions hold at 37%. Looking at the local wind rose, the eastern half of the compass-NE through SE-contributes close to 35% of observations, with the strongest and most frequent ideal winds coming from E/ESE and NE at moderate speeds. Onshore W and NW winds remain the enemy, totaling about 22% of all wind and frequently blowing at 20-40kph, so it pays to wait for the high-pressure windows. Water temperature is at its coldest of the year at 12.0°C, air temperatures average 7.3°C, and precipitation is around 3mm/day. The cold keeps crowds down, and the quality remains high whenever the wind cooperates.