Westport Surf Season
Washington, USA · part of the Westport spot guide
Prime is October to February, peaking in mid-winter with January the single most-cited best month. The engine is North Pacific extratropical storms from the Gulf of Alaska and Aleutians firing west-to-northwest groundswell down the coast, and the jetty shelter lets Westport hold shape when raw beach breaks blow out. It is a genuine year-round surf town — summer keeps a waist-to-chest-high, learner-friendly wave with cleaner mornings, while winter delivers overhead-to-double-overhead on the bigger swells.
Where the swell comes from
Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian lows for the primary fall-to-spring west-to-northwest groundswell, mid-latitude Pacific fronts for a year-round background, and occasional deep bomb cyclones for episodic XL events.
Historic swells at Westport
Northeast Pacific bomb cyclone
The most intense Northeast Pacific cyclone on record; an offshore buoy near Astoria read roughly 35 feet of open-ocean height with individual waves over 60 feet — far bigger than the sheltered breaking face at Westport, but illustrative of the winter storm engine.