Kommetjie • Statistics for January

January: The Cape Doctor on Full Blast

January sits deep in the South Atlantic summer regime. A persistent subtropical high offshore directs strong SE to SSE winds across the peninsula 52% of the time, but at Kommetjie that is a mainly offshore flow. The catch is strength - the majority of those winds blow 20-40kph, many gusting over 40kph, so the ocean is often bumpy despite the helpful direction. Only 9% of wind observations fall inside the ideal range for surfing. The swell input is still solid for a summer month: average height 7.5ft (2.3m), period 11.1 seconds, with SW (28%) and SSW (18%) directions dominating. The true W-WNW swell window is rare, but the long-period component lets the SW groundswell wrap into the west-facing bay. With average air temperatures near 20.0°C, water at 18.2°C, and just 0.39 mm/day precipitation, expect warm and dry conditions. The best surf will come early in the day while the SE wind is still light, or on deeper SW pulses that coincide with a slack ESE offshore.