#wave – A new maximum wave height measuring nearly 80–feet (23 metres) has been recorded in weekend storms off the coast of Ireland.

Monster waves the height of five double deck buses occurred during last weekend's ferocious storms off the coast of Donegal, the worst for 30 years, according to Donegal news sources.

The M4 weather buoy, located off the Northwest coast, recorded a new maximum individual wave height of 23.4 metres at 15.00 on Sunday 26th January 2014 during the weekend storm that prompted an orange alert by the Coast Guard.

The new wave measurement easily surpasses the previous record of 20.4 metres at the same location in December 2011, according to Met Eireann.

The M4 buoy is one of a new generation of weather buoys with the ability to measure maximum wave height as well as the more usual Significant Wave Height.

The Significant Wave Height is defined as the average height of the highest one-third of the waves and that is what our forecasts of wave height refer to.

In general, the highest wave of all will be about twice the Significant Wave Height.

There was also a record for maximum significant wave height for the M4 buoy of 15.3m at the same time, with the previous record being 14.7m. The all-time record for Significant Wave Height still rests with the M6 buoy of 17.2m.

more from Met Eireann on this story here