Wave Buoy Location Local View   Wide View +   + This wave buoy hasn't reported in the last 24 hours. It may be damaged temporarily, down for routine maintenance, removed for the season or permanently out of action. More information is available here.

Latest Reported Data The forecast data for comparisom on the graphs is the same as appears on the normal forecast pages but from the nearest forecast location (Jalama Beach), in this case 19 miles from the Wave Buoy. Larger distances may account for differences between the forecast and the report.

Time Wave Height Period Swell Dir Wind   Water Air 6:00am Fri 22nd 4.5ft 10secs 16mph N/A N/A 5:00am Fri 22nd 4.5ft 10secs 16mph N/A N/A 4:00am Fri 22nd 4.5ft 10secs 16mph N/A N/A 3:00am Fri 22nd 5ft 9secs 16mph N/A N/A 2:00am Fri 22nd 5ft 9secs 18mph N/A N/A 1:00am Fri 22nd 5ft 9secs 18mph N/A N/A 12:00am Fri 22nd 5ft 11secs 20mph N/A N/A 11:00pm Thu 21st 5ft 9secs 20mph N/A N/A 10:00pm Thu 21st 5.5ft 10secs 18mph N/A N/A 9:00pm Thu 21st 5ft 9secs 20mph N/A N/A 8:00pm Thu 21st 5ft 10secs 18mph N/A N/A 7:00pm Thu 21st 5ft 8secs 18mph N/A N/A 6:00pm Thu 21st 5ft 10secs 18mph N/A N/A 5:00pm Thu 21st 5ft 9secs 18mph N/A N/A

Wave Buoys are the definitive way to know what is actually happening out to sea right now, this is not a forecast this is live data recorded by a fixed monitoring station offshore from the local surf - and with the swells from them taking an hour or more to reach the local surf spots a great way for a last minute check before you head to the beach or to watch a new swell arrive.

Our Using Wave Buoys Tutorial gives a little more information on what all this means.

Comparing the forecast and the wave buoy data.

You'll notice for most locations a strong correlation between the wave buoy data and the forecast. The forecast data shown is the zero hour forecast and likely to be the most accurate and show the closest correlation with observed conditions. If we were to show the 72hr forecast against the actual wave buoy data there'd be a looser correlation. This is something we're working on putting together at the moment. However even so you'll also notice some differences and for some locations these will be larger than others. In time we'll cover all of these in detail, in the meantime here is a brief overview:

Gridded Model Data
The forecast system creates a grid of squares to represent the oceans surface. The forecast data is the AVERAGE conditions across this grid square, where the wave buoy is data at a very specific location.

Distance to location
For some wave buoys the nearest forecast data shown is some distance away and may appear in a different model grid square from the wave buoy. It's not a perfect like for like comparisom. With our newer nearshore data we'll also factor in the decay a swell will experience as it heads into the shallower water near the shore.

Conditions from outside the model
For some locations the forecast model may not predict swells generating in small enclosed seas or areas to fine in resolution to be covered by the model but the wave buoy may still pick these up.

Model Inaccuracies
Sometimes the computer forecast can just get it wrong. The data in the graphs above is just for the last fortnight - sometimes atmospheric conditions mean a period when the model forecast will find it more difficult to predict accurately than at other times.

Mis reported conditions
You'll notice that the wave buoys sometimes fail to report some or all data on a particular hour or occasionally report very large or small values in error.

'Height and Period' are great simplifications
Our reliance on wave buoys and computer forecasts has, as we mention elsewhere on the site, tricked us a little into believing that the whole character of the sea state at any time can be reduced to just two numbers. In fact a number of different swells of different sizes can be running at the same time and the wave buoy and the computer model may be deciding slightly differently which they think is most 'dominant' or important. This is most noticable with wave period and more information is available here.

In short neither the buoy or the forecast is likely to be more 'right' or 'wrong' they're just a slightly different windows into the complex conditions of the ocean and both are useful tools for the committed surfer.