Virginia Beach Offshore, VA
Virginia, United States
Last wave reading:
Now at the buoy
Significant wave height at the buoy
5.6 ft
1.7 m
- Dominant period
- 6 s
- Direction
- from WNW 284°
Swell
0.7 ft0.2 m
10 sfrom SE 135°
Wind waves
5.6 ft1.7 m
5.7 sfrom WNW 293°
Wind waves lead: 5.6 ft at 5.7 s from the WNW, over 0.7 ft of mid-period swell at 10 s from the SE. Building over the last 6 hours, up 1.3 ft.
Significant wave height is the average of the biggest third of waves at the buoy. It is not surf height at a beach.
Trend at the buoy
Height at the buoy
- Total (significant height)
- Swell
- Wind waves
Period
- Swell period
- Wind-wave period
Hourly means of the buoy's readings. Arrows point the way the waves travel.
Model vs the buoy
- Buoy, hourly
- Model, past days
- Model forecast
Over the last 5 days, the model tracked the buoy within 10%.
| Day | Height | Peak period | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri, Nov 13 | 7.5 ft | 6.2 s | WNW |
| Sat, Nov 14 | 9.5 ft | 7.3 s | N |
| Sun, Nov 15 | 7.5 ft | 6.5 s | NNW |
| Mon, Nov 16 | 6.0 ft | 6.2 s | N |
| Tue, Nov 17 | 3.5 ft | 6.2 s | NNE |
| Wed, Nov 18 | 2.4 ft | 6.2 s | NE |
| Thu, Nov 19 | 1.6 ft | 7.6 s | ENE |
ECMWF WAM wave model via Open-Meteo, nearest model cell (36.500°N, 74.750°W). Both lines are significant wave height at sea, the same measure the buoy reports. Model output, not a Quiver beach forecast.
Beaches whose Quiver forecast uses this buoy
- Corolla92 km
Quiver forecast now: 0-1ft
Beach numbers are each beach's own Quiver forecast, not a conversion of this buoy reading.
Nearby buoys
- Virginia Beach 64 NM East of Virginia Beach, VA5.9 ft · 5 sLive · 1.0 km
- OOI Pioneer - Mid-Atlantic Bight Northern Surface Mooring7.2 ftLive · 49 km
- Duck FRF 26m, NC3.6 ft · 4 sLive · 78 km
- Cape Henry, VA3.3 ft · 4 sLive · 86 km
- Nags Head, NC3.9 ft · 4 sLive · 86 km
- Duck FRF, NC2.0 ft · 4 sLive · 91 km
Nearest tide station: Duck Pier 94 km for today’s highs and lows.
Other readings
- Water temperature
- 65°F (18.6°C)
- Air temperature
- 59°F (15.0°C)
Reported Nov 13, 4:30 AM GMT-5.
How to read this buoy
Virginia Beach Offshore, VA sits in open water, 92 km from the closest beach listed here. It sees swell before the coast bends, blocks or shrinks it, so expect beach surf to differ from this reading.
Over the readings shown here, most wave energy reached this buoy from the E.
Biggest hourly reading in that record: 17.6 ft at 13 s on Oct 20.
- Station id
- 44088
- CDIP id
- 171
- Operator
- SCRIPPS
- Program
- IOOS Partners
- Position
- 36.612°N, 74.839°W
- Type
- Moored buoy
- Local time zone
- GMT-5 (open ocean)
- Swell split
- Yes, swell and wind waves reported
Source: NOAA National Data Buoy Center (NDBC); station operated by SCRIPPS. Licence: Public domain (US government work). Station page at the source.
Not for navigation. Readings can be late, missing or wrong; check official marine forecasts before going to sea.
Buoy terms
- Significant height
- The average of the biggest third of waves the buoy measured. Sets in the surf zone can be bigger or smaller.
- Dominant period
- Seconds between the waves carrying the most energy. Longer period means more power and more bend around points.
- Swell vs wind waves
- Swell was made by distant wind; wind waves were made nearby. The buoy splits its spectrum at a cutoff period to report each.
- Direction
- Where waves come from, in degrees true. 270° is from the west.
