It is important to know and remember that these wave height forecasts project the “mean” significant wave height. Tom Ainsworth, from the NOAA/National Weather Service Forecast Office in Juneau, AK further explains, “The wave height value in a forecast, and reported by ships and buoys, is called the significant wave height. Significant wave height (Hs) is defined as the average height of the highest one-third waves in a wave spectrum.” It gets a bit more complex but for practical purposes, at least one percent of the swells will be 1.67 times the maximum swell forecast, and the maximum (theoretical) wave height would be twice as tall as the swell forecast. So, if our forecast calls for 10-foot west swell, One out of a hundred waves is likely to measure 16 feet. And, the possibility exists of a 20-foot swell hitting the coastline when the forecast warns of only 10-foot swells. Once again, these are very dangerous conditions and all caution should be taken near the shoreline, or while at sea.

With rockfish season now closed, and the halibut off to their deep water wintertime habitat, ocean anglers find the pickings are getting slim. Dungeness crab was slowing down even before the big series of swells hit. Many experienced crabbers pulled their pots in mid-December due to the low crab counts per pot. Sand dab fishing is extremely popular during the wintertime on Monterey Bay. Both the Dungeness crab and sand dabs go into hiding when the swell is up as it has been lately. Most Charter operations are taking a vacation now, or running only occasional trips. Chris’ Fishing Trips in Monterey is hanging in there. Owner Chris Arcoleo says he is getting his boats out whenever he has enough clients to cover the boat costs, with weekends being a bit busier. Chris’ reported catches of up to 30 sanddabs and two or three Dungeness crab on their combo trips last week.