44066 was the last functioning buoy off NJ. It appears to have gone wacky. The current wind is west @ 10-15 and the buoy says ENE @ 10-17. The swell/wave heights seem off as well, but I'm not certain. It was nice when all three off NJ worked and you could cross reference the data. The buoys are an excellent tool for scoring waves when you learn what type of swell and conditions may work for a particular break. Plus I just like reading the data and observing the trends. I hope it gets serviced ASAP.
That does seem off. Weird. Ya, losing 44025, and 44065 really stinks for NJ. A lot of the buoys do go down a lot, and then eventually get restored. Perhaps just the wind is off.
buoy down (no not intermediate surfer but actual device) please also consider frozen apparati then stir in freezing spray….
Ah, good point. I bet its just the wind anemometer. The wave data is probably fine. And, that buoy is far enough off the coast, where the wind really isn't very telling of whats going on at shore.
I second that. I have thousands of hours at sea for my job and it is a lot different offshore sometimes. I also agree with the freezing water hindering the birds from being accurate. The coastal buoys off the coast of Delaware have ice covering most of the lower portion. The offshore buoys may be in a similar state. Maybe the ice out there is a bit higher on the structure.
NOAAs budget has been slashed in the Obama Years. They are hanging on by a shoe string. The buoys constantly need repair or replacement but it happens a lot less often now.
I'll be honest, NOAA's budget has been suffering for longer than 2008. President Obama hasn't helped but they were in despair long before he took the seat. The USCG works about 50% of their (NOAA's) buoys. USCG has the Buoy tenders to assist but unfortunately has to prioritize it's own missions first. I agree though, buoys, all buoys, need constant work and repair. The day ATON becomes a privatized industry, the better off it will be.
The wind earlier today was definitely westerly out there. There is much less variability during stronger weather patterns. For example, the summer pattern around here is typically weak and the reason it goes SE in the afternoons on the island, while remaining west on the main land. The ice build up from the freezing spray created by the strong SSW wind yesterday makes the most sense. Checking the wind maps and taking the speed into account will verify it was west. The reason it turns SE during a weak pattern in warmer months is: warm air rises allowing the cooler ocean air to slide underneath, creating onshore flow. I'm still waiting for The Weather Channel to learn this. Maybe I should email them. I'm curious if the extra weight from ice build up throws the wave heights off too.
Ya that really does stink... At least we know that it's always offshore, 50 degrees and 23 FT in Belmar,NJ No more checking forecast and conditions!! Just jump in your surf wagon and head straight to Belmar NJ
Is there any info on 44065? Are they planning on repairing it any time soon? When exactly did it go down and what caused it? The thing survived Sandy if I'm not mistaken, yet it broke from something recently? lol. One day I thought the forecast looked off and checked and realized I was reading data from a different buoy. I had been looking at the wrong buoy for probably a week. Anyway, any update on it?
Here's the NDBC service schedule: http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/ops.shtml 44065 is transmitting wind, but not wave data, so most likely the wave guages failed. Its not on the service schedule, so who knows when it will get fixed. The buoys have problems all the time. Some times the equipment fails, sometimes the data transfer process fails, sometimes storms breaks things.
If the data is live, I'd assume its accurate. Obviously there is an issue with the wind on 44066, and likely the NDBC doesn't realize it.
44066 appears to have thawed out! The water temp says 50f though. It's usually warmer out there but that seems like a stretch. Maybe a nice, big, fat eddie spun off the Gulf Stream current. If that's the case, I hope it spins all the way to the beach and gives this mid 30's water the boot! Mid 30's makes it hard to last beyond the 2 hour mark, or less without becoming a popsicle.
