I don't know, but IME the wave heights reported by NOAA aren't very
accurate either. I don't really know how wave heights can be
accurately measured.

I'm not sure how they do the waves from the buoys, but there aren't
that many of those.

Bouys, satellites, ship obsevations....





As far as weather forecasts go - more than once the forecast has been
15-20 decreasing during the day, and it has actually been 15-20
increasing to 25-30 with gusts to 50.

More important at the top of every Ocean Prediction Center weather fax
you'll read:
SIGNIFICANT WAVE HEIGHT IS SHOWN (THE AVERAGE HEIGHT OF THE HIGHEST
ONE-THIRD OF THE WAVES)

In other words, the forcasted/observed wave hight means you gonna see
lots bigger ones too. Average = mean.
Bob

"Bob" wrote:


I don't know, but IME the wave heights reported by NOAA aren't very
accurate either. I don't really know how wave heights can be
accurately measured.

I'm not sure how they do the waves from the buoys, but there aren't
that many of those.

Bouys, satellites, ship obsevations....

It's the ship observations that I don't trust. We just got back from
a cruise and the wave heights that they reported were just
unbelievable to me. Either they said it was calm with no significant
waves when it was not, or they said that the waves were 7-8 (feet or
meters can't remember which) when there looked to me that there
weren't any to speak of.

As far as weather forecasts go - more than once the forecast has been
15-20 decreasing during the day, and it has actually been 15-20
increasing to 25-30 with gusts to 50.

More important at the top of every Ocean Prediction Center weather fax
you'll read:
SIGNIFICANT WAVE HEIGHT IS SHOWN (THE AVERAGE HEIGHT OF THE HIGHEST
ONE-THIRD OF THE WAVES)

In other words, the forcasted/observed wave hight means you gonna see
lots bigger ones too. Average = mean.
Bob

I know what average and mean are. But if it is the average tallest
1/3rd, I would expect to see more smaller ones (the other 2/3rds). (I
don't get weather faxes as a rule, so I would not have seen that)

When they report the weather at Thomas Point light, they say the same
thing about the wind speed and the waves there. And what they report
is sometimes significantly different from what we see at our boat even
though we are within sight of the light.

Also when we go past Cedar Point at the mouth of the Patuxent, the
wind there is often completely opposite of any other place on the
Chesapeake.

My point is that a lot of weather is really localized and broad
observations may not really reflect what is happening at a specific
boat.