January’s been unusually warm this year, so much so that California’s now on the verge of declaring state of emergencies for dwindling water supplies. And with the warm, dry weather has come a lack of the big swells California’s accustomed to during the winter months.

As a result, many big wave surfers are starting to worry that the Mavericks Surf Contest will not be held this year. It would be the second time in four years that the contest would be cancelled because of a lack of swell.

"Yeah, I'm always a little worried it won't be held," said Mavericks charger Ryan Seelbach. "You really need the big surf to make it the big event it is. But predicting weather is like predicting an earthquake." The contest window for Mavericks runs through the end of March.

The San Francisco Chronicle wrote a whole story on the big wave drought affecting both California and Hawaii, which hasn’t seen the Eddie go off in five years. And to be honest, I wouldn’t be all that bummed if Mavericks didn’t go off this year.