San Onofre State Beach • Statistics for February

February: Late-Winter Groundswell

February holds onto the heart of the North Pacific storm track, with an average swell height of 3.6ft (1.1m) and a period of 12.4s. The swell compass is even more favorable for the beach than January: WSW jumps to 33%, SW to 9%, and the W contribution drops to 53%. That means a larger slice of the total energy is arriving from the southwest, San Onofre's sweet spot. Wave heights again peak in the 2-5ft (0.5-1.5m) range, but the bigger classes are still present, with a healthy 13% of observations in the 5-8ft (1.5-2.5m) range.

The wind picture is slightly less cooperative than January. Ideal wind percentages fall to 44%, as the offshore quadrants N through ENE provide about 24% of observations while onshore S, SSW, SW and WSW winds build to nearly 23%. This creates a more mixed bag: clean dawn sessions followed by crumbling afternoon southwesterlies. The winter atmosphere is still wet, with 2.90 mm/day of precipitation, while air temperatures average 13.3°C and water temperature is 14.2°C. When a low-pressure system exits and the NE offshore wind fills in behind it, February can absolutely fire at San Onofre.