Caridad • Statistics for January

January: Peak Amihan, Powerful but Blown Out

January sits in the heart of the northeast monsoon, and the Pacific Ocean responds with serious groundswell. Average swell heights come in at 1.7m (5.6ft) with a period of 9.5s, meaning there's plenty of punch in the water. The waverose shows 57.4% of all swell energy arriving from the NE and 30.4% from the ENE, with most waves in the 1.5-2m (5-6.5ft) range. This is pumping, firing surf by any standard. The problem? The wind. Ideal offshore winds blow a mere 2% of the time. The windrose is dominated by ENE (32.1%) and NE (26.5%) winds, which are fully onshore at this east-facing beach. That constant onshore flow turns the long-period energy into wind-chopped walls. Air temperatures sit around 27.2°C with 16.32 mm/day of rain and a water temperature of 27.7°C. You'll need a bit of tropical storm luck to find a day with the wind swinging around to the west -- but if it does, you'll be rewarded with heavy, hollow peaks.