After striking the Bahamas and continuing up through the United States, Hurricane Dorian’s strong winds likely whipped up a 100-foot wave off the coast of Newfoundland, according to a buoy two miles off the coast. Photo: NOAA
Recovery efforts continue in the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian stalled over parts of the island nation for several days last week wreaking havoc. Some 1,300 people are still unaccounted for while 50 people are said to have died as a result of the storm.
After continuing past the Bahamas and striking parts of the United States, Dorian marched north to coastal Canada maintaining much of its strength to the point that a buoy off the coast of Newfoundland likely measured a 100-foot wave trough to crest created by the storm.
The buoy, operated by the Marine Institute at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, recorded the massive wave on Saturday night as well as three other waves in the 75-foot range.
These readings are extremely uncommon. But, according to the Washington Post, the director of the Center of Applied Ocean Technology at the Marine Institute, Bill Carter, said the equipment was in working order at the time it reported these giant waves.
“I make sure the equipment’s working, which it was,” he told the Post.
“Only 10 minutes of the data from every hour is sent back to shore,” Carter continued. “There could have been even higher waves during the other 50 minutes. We’ll only know when we get the data off the buoy.”
Canadian buoy #44137, located south of Nova Scotia near Sable Island Bank, is reporting a significant wave height of 50 feet thanks to #HurricaneDorian. This buoy infamously reported a 100.7 foot wave during “The Perfect Storm” in October 1991. @rms5539 pic.twitter.com/UpMhvZHuJI
— Simon Lee (@SimonLeeWx) September 7, 2019
If the idea of a 100-foot wave in the Atlantic conjures up images of the 2000 film, The Perfect Storm, that isn’t too far off. Apparently a buoy off the coast of Nova Scotia measured 50-foot waves during Dorian. The same buoy measured a 100.7-foot wave in 1991 during an unnamed storm system later dubbed “The Perfect Storm” that turned into a novel and was later adapted for the big screen featuring George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, and John C. Reilly.
Located two miles offshore, the Washington Post explains, the Marine Institute’s buoy typically sits in water that’s about 160 feet deep. That’s relatively shallow, but prevailing theories suggest that the maximum height of a wave at that depth is somewhere between 88 and 125 feet. Meaning it’s entirely possible a 100-foot wave passed through the open ocean Saturday night.
