One of the highest waves ever recorded in Irish waters struck off the Donegal coast yesterday morning during Storm Franklin.
The giant wall of water measured over 28.1 metres in height, taller than a six-storey building or six double-decker buses stacked on top of each other.
It was recorded by the M4 weather buoy, which is positioned 83km west of Rossan Point, between 2am and 3am on Monday morning.
It is the highest wave ever recorded by the M4 Buoy smashing the previous record of 23.4 metres set in 2014 by a whopping 4.7 metres.
The M4 Buoy is one of five weather buoys located around Ireland as part of the Irish Weather Buoy Network.
The largest wave ever recorded in Irish seas was a 32.3 metre wave observed by the M6 Buoy in October 2020, which is located deep in the Atlantic ocean over 380km west of Slyne Head in Galway.
It comes as the third storm in a week gradually died out on Monday morning, with the last of the nationwide Status Yellow weather warnings in place until 9am.
Storm Franklin brought very strong winds with severe gusts of more than 130kph recorded in Co Galway and Co Donegal.
Met Eireann and the Marine Institute confirmed the record-breaking wave in Donegal but noted that "very large maximum wave heights such as this are considered provisional until the buoy has been recovered and raw data analysed".
In a joint statement they said: "Between 2am and 3am on the 21st February 2022 the primary wave sensor on the M4 Buoy recorded a 28.1m wave. The secondary sensor corroborated this measurement.
"This very large wave occurred in the context of a very high sea state caused by a long sea fetch under strong winds as Storm Franklin approached Ireland.
"Computer models predicted phenomenal seas of the NW coast and the observations at the M4 Buoy aligned with these predictions.
"If the raw data analysis confirms the observation, it would be the highest recorded wave at the M4 Buoy surpassing the previous record of 23.4m recorded in 2014.
"The largest wave recorded measured by an Irish buoy the Irish Marine Data Buoy Observation Network was a 32.3m wave observed by the M6 Buoy in October 2020. This report measurement is undergoing analysis to verify its accuracy."
The Irish Marine Data Buoy Observation Network has provided crucial data for weather forecasting and safety at sea for the past 20 years, providing real-time updates on the weather and sea conditions around our coasts.
The network of five offshore weather observing marine buoys around Ireland is managed by the Marine Institute in collaboration with Met Eireann and funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
