67ft wave biggest ever recorded in Irish waters

Storms lashing the British Isles on Tuesday 13 December produced the largest wave ever known off Ireland.

The 67ft (20.4m) monster was measured at 2pm by a buoy 60 miles out to sea, during a Force 10.

Met Éireann, the Irish weather service, said, ‘At 14.00 today the M4 weather buoy off the Donegal coast recorded a maximum wave height of 20.4m, which is the highest maximum wave recorded in Irish waters’.

Meteorologists said the data showed the conditions were the most severe they had ever encountered that distance offshore.

Ireland’s Weather Buoy Network is a joint project of the Irish Marine Institute, Department of Transport, Met Éireann and the UK Met Office.

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Image: The Wave, painting by Gustave Courbet