Significant Wave Height

[Sea Ranger]

For new boaters planning a trip, in addition to laying out the route, weather becomes an important and critical factor.
The National Weather Service (NWS) forecasts the marine weather and part of the forecast is the sea state. They forecast it in terms of significant wave height, seas 2-4 feet, 4-6 ft etc..
What do those numbers mean?
The higher of the two numbers is the significant wave height. Forecasting 2-4 ft will mean in 100 waves 33% will be 4 ft or greater and 66% will be 2 ft or the most frequent wave height.
The significant wave height is an average of the 33%. Since it is an average there could be and most likely will be wave heights in excess of the significant wave height.
In a sequence of 1000 waves, the wave height could be twice the significant wave height.
Don’t get caught off guard by a 13 to 20 ft wave or higher when NWS forecasts seas 5-10 ft.

[N4QC]

Learn something new every day. Thanks for the info...

Have fun,

[jcollins]

Good information. Thanks.