North Atlantic storm forecast to produce massive 60-foot waves and boat breaks in two

As presented this morning in my newsletter, the NOAA Ocean Prediction Center is predicting seas in excess of 60 feet associated with a low pressure system that has rapidly intensified in the North Atlantic off the northeast coast of the U.S.

“Low pressure rapidly intensified yesterday and overnight, and continues to produce hurricane-force winds to 75 kt today,” the Ocean Prediction Center said in an update posted to Facebook.

At 12:00 UTC, National Weather Serviced meteorologists analyzed significant wave heights of 52 feet, or 16 meters, associated with the storm. The latest NWS North Atlantic High Seas Forecast showed a Hurricane Force Wind Warning is in effect for the area with seas forecasted to build to 60 feet, or more than 18 meters, over the next 24 hours!

“.24 HOUR FORECAST LOW 46N42W 954 MB. WITHIN 360 NM SE AND 180 NM NW QUADRANTS WINDS 55 TO 75 KT. SEAS 44 TO 60 FT.” – NOAA Hurricane Force Warning issued 1630 UTC FRI JAN 29 2021.

Remember, significant wave height is the average height of the tallest 1/3 of waves, so individual waves can be much larger and may be more than twice the significant wave height.

According to the World Meteorological Organization, the world record for the tallest significant wave height was recorded by North Atlantic buoy located between Iceland and the United Kingdom in February 2013. The wave height: a whopping 62.3 feet, or 19 meters!

The previous record of 18.275 meters (59.96 feet) was measured on 8 December 2007, also in the North Atlantic.

Some say, the world’s largest waves hit Newfoundland, making the island shake like during an earthquake back in 2018.

As the world’s largest waves, and wind gusts of more than 100 km/h hit Newfoundland, the island started shaking like during an earthquake

In one instance in 2018, the National Hurricane Center’s Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch reported that satellite radar picked up a significant wave height of 83 feet associated with Hurricane Florence.

Wave heights to 83 ft were measured early this morning under the NE quadrant of Hurricane Florence. These enormous waves are produced by being trapped along with very strong winds moving in the same direction the storm’s motion. #HurricaneFlorence https://t.co/26J6Uogt6o pic.twitter.com/mdjGD5yibg

— NHC_TAFB (@NHC_TAFB) September 12, 2018

Although forecasters at first believed the data to be accurate, they admitted that the reading could have also been the result of extremely heavy rain, which may have produced bad data.

Meanwhile, a cargo ship was broken in two by a huge wave off Turkey’s Black Sea province of Bartin earlier this month. Three sailors died when the Ukrainian-owned Arvin sank in heavy seas on Jan. 16 after the wave snapped its keel near the bow.

For the latest forecast guidance on this from NOAA, head over to weather.gov.

More extreme weather news on Strange Sounds and Steve Quayle. If you enjoyed this post, it’s now time to subscribe to our blog to get our new daily newsletter right into your inbox (for free and without ads). You can also follow us on Facebook and/ or Twitter. And, by the way you can also make a donation through Paypal. Thank you!