Historical Reference: Using past swell data to plan for forecasted conditions

The playbuoy iOS App allows users to look back on recent historical buoy data, including all wave energy data. This allows for viewing the data from swells in the past to compare with current forecasts to understand how the forecast may translate in real life.

January 17, 2022

The swell on January 17 2022 was large in Rhode Island, where I am based. A look back at the recorded buoy data shows impressive wave heights on the Block Island NDBC buoy:

But how did this translate into real waves on the Rhode Island Coastline? That day I snapped this picture of a local surfer:

December 18. 2023

A few days from December 18, the forecast is looking very strong at the same station:

If you are a surfer, this comparison will excite you because that swell information looks very similar. The swell angle looks a bit more south and the period looks a bit longer but overall very similar 20+ foot swell. The increased period and more southerly wave direction could change how the swell propagates into Narragansett Bay, but it should make for some happy novelty wave hunting.

Have a swell that you enjoyed in the past? Try using the playbuoy iOS app to look at the detailed wave data from the day and use that to inform your future sessions. We will be looking to add session archiving features to playbuoy to help this process because after all, the surfers will always know the type of waves that they like to surf the best.