Holy crap look at the data coming off of this buoy.

www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=42040

EDIT:
GMZ084-160330-
MIDDLE GULF BETWEEN 85W AND 90W
430 PM CDT WED SEP 15 2004

HURRICANE WARNING N OF 26N

TROPICAL STORM WARNING ELSEWHERE N OF 24N

TONIGHT
HIGHEST WIND 115 KT GUSTS 140 KT NEAR CENTER OF IVAN.
TROPICAL STORM FORCE OR GREATER WIND AND SEAS 12 FT OR GREATER
WITH ESTIMATED HIGHEST SEAS 60 FT ELSEWHERE N OF 26N. FROM 23N
TO 25N WIND SW 20 TO 33 KT. SEAS 8 TO 16 FT IN CONFUSED SWELL.
S OF 23N WIND S 20 KT. SEAS 6 TO 9 FT IN N SWELL. NUMEROUS
SQUALLS WITHIN 240 NM OF IVAN.

[dude] surfs up [/dude]

Is that big?

Gnarly waveage dude.

... Bullshit!

... I know Wave, he can't be over 5'

The page won't load, but I assume it's hurricane related.  That's REALLY BIG for a shallow body of water like the Gulf.  Not really excessive for deep water wave action.

Quoted: The page won't load, but I assume it's hurricane related.  That's REALLY BIG for a shallow body of water like the Gulf.  Not really excessive for deep water wave action.

I think it's getting alot of hits. I had to hit refresh a few times to get it to load.

So would that have those white caps on it?

Considering the water depth at the bouy site is approx 800', that's a respectable wave.

Holy shit.... I get the "surfs up" jokes but doesn't this mean there are a whole lot of 'murkans that are about to be in a world of hurt???


- BG

Quoted: ... Bullshit! ... I know Wave, he can't be over 5'

Quoted: The page won't load, but I assume it's hurricane related.  That's REALLY BIG for a shallow body of water like the Gulf.  Not really excessive for deep water wave action.

Mitch had 50+ foot waves in the western Caribbean back in 1998...but Mitch was a Cat 5 with 180 MPH sustained winds...42 footers are pretty fucking huge...

Quoted: Holy shit.... I get the "surfs up" jokes but doesn't this mean there are a whole lot of 'murkans that are about to be in a world of hurt??? - BG

Yeah but just the ones in Alabama.

17 second intervals is no too bad. A 42' wave with a 6 second interval is BAD. The worst I have been in (32' sail boat) was a 24' with a 6 second interval with breaking waves. It was bad. A wave caught us broadside and knocked us down. My wife was below using the toilet. She was tossed through a door!
We lived on that boat for five years. I miss the ocean



Samuel

People who have not experienced a major hurricane first hand often cannot appreciate the awesome power of these storms.  Remember the atomic bombs that leveled Hiroshima and Nagasaki?  Hurricane Ivan releases the energy of those two bombs combined EVERY SECOND!

You don't fuck around with a Cat 4 or 5...they are killers...best to GTFO while you can...

They're going to get HAMMERED!
Hope everyone makes it out safe.

HERE COME DA JUDGE!!

Quoted: Holy shit.... I get the "surfs up" jokes but doesn't this mean there are a whole lot of 'murkans that are about to be in a world of hurt??? - BG

You're right...

I'm supposed to go to Nawlins mid October, too!

Uhm....so does that mean they are going to get that kind of surf on the 'Bama coast?  It's only 64nm away!

Quoted: 17 second intervals is no too bad. A 42' wave with a 6 second interval is BAD. The worst I have been in (32' sail boat) was a 24' with a 6 second interval with breaking waves. It was bad. A wave caught us broadside and knocked us down. My wife was below using the toilet. She was tossed through a door! We lived on that boat for five years. I miss the ocean Samuel

A 42' foot wave in a storm surge hitting a place that is BELOW sea level is not going to be pretty. Glad I got to see New Orleans while it was still above water.

wganz
¶

Quoted: Quoted: Holy shit.... I get the "surfs up" jokes but doesn't this mean there are a whole lot of 'murkans that are about to be in a world of hurt??? - BG Yeah but just the ones in Alabama.

Gee, thanks...

Charlie don't surf!!!!!!

Almost 50 footers now.

Mommy!  I'm scared!

I was on a Navy destroyer that was then part of a three ship task unit that was caught in a major hurricane in the north Pacific southeast of Japan in April 1969.  With us was carrier Coral Sea and destroyer Porterfield.  At the height of the storm, the winds were exceeding 140mph.  The wave height as I recall varied from about 45' to +70'.  The seas were very confused with gigantic long swells mixed in with gigantic sea waves.

The ship I was on was 437' long and 45' at the beam.  Our fully loaded displacement was about 4200 tons.  This is just provided for perspective.

At the height of the typhoon, with a head sea the ship was lifting her foot completely out of the water to 60' aft of the bow, all the way to the sonar dome.  When we crested a giant swell and dove into the valley, our screws came completely out of the water.  We were rolling about 45 degs. with great frequency.  Just hanging on was a great accomplishment.

When we tied up in Yokosuka a few days later, I inspected the damage up forward and it was incredible.  Virtually everything was either bent or simply ripped off of the main deck and the superstructure.  We had an irregular crack about 1/2" wide and 24" long up in front of the anchor windlass.  This was caused by the beating of the heavy seas and the flexing of the hull.

Unless you ride one of these out...it is really beyond comprehension.  When we were in the worst of it, all I kept thinking about was the December 1944 typhoon that sank so many of Halsey's ships and sent so many good men to a watery grave.

When a storm like this one hits land...very bad things happen.  If this beast hits Nawlins...they are truly screwed.

Quoted: I'm supposed to go to Nawlins mid October, too!

If you're lucky, NO might be a few dozen miles further north.  Or at least pieces of it.

Ever see "Waterworld"? Tjat is how I am picturing New Orleans.

...That's REALLY BIG for a shallow body of water like the Gulf. Not really excessive for deep water wave action....

I concur.

4200 tonner, well better you than me.  hmm about 26 year old get it out as fast as you can can?  I'll bet the  sagging and hogging had EVERYBODY praying the Rosie the Riveter wasn't on the rag.  What the snipes have to say about what happened when the screws came out?

I thinkthe biggest I ever saw were about 25 to 30 ft and not for too long

Wow!!!!!!

60 ft wave.  1 cubic metre of sea water = 1000 kg (a metric ton).  For surfers. that's 10 overhead (10x man standing).  I tried to surf (I admit I suck at it) double overhead and got my backside handed to me by a wave and it hurt.  I don't even want to think about the damage 60ft waves can do.