Hey, Sat afternoon - 5:00pm Looks like a little of that longer period energy is starting to show up on the buoys. I wanted to point something out about the buoy readings that some people might now be aware of. Take a look at the wvht vs. swell ht. : wave height is defined by the NDBC as the average of the highest 1/3 of all wave heights. and swell height is a statistical technique to separate out the wind swell wave heights. This isn't perfect, but can often give you a good idea of whats going on during ground swell events. So, right now, buoy 41025 - off of hatteras, shows wvht - 4.3 @ 6sec and swell ht of 2.3 @ 11secs. So, you can see that there is some underlying longer period swell in with the short period wind swell. The swell heights will be useful for guaging the Frances swell, since many areas are going to see a mix of NE wind swell along with the g swells. That concludes this lesson in Forecasting 301 - yes this is a 300 level material.... Keep an eye on those outer buoys to get an idea of timing/size of frances swells... Should start to see some energy by early Sunday - Enjoy!
