Stewart Island - Saber Reef Surf Stats

The graph illustrates the variation of swells directed at Stewart Island - Saber Reef through an average December and is based upon 3448 NWW3 model predictions since 2006 (values every 3 hours). The wave model does not forecast wind or surf right at the coast so we have chosen the most applicable grid node based on what we know about Stewart Island - Saber Reef. In the case of Stewart Island - Saber Reef, the best grid node is 41 km away (25 miles). The rose diagram describes the distribution of swell directions and swell sizes, while the graph at the bottom shows the same thing but lacks direction information. Five colours illustrate increasing wave sizes. Blue shows the smallest swells, less that 0.5m (1.5 feet) high. These were forecast only 98% of the time. Green and yellow represent increasing swell sizes and largest swells greater than >3m (>10ft) are shown in red. In both graphs, the area of any colour is proportional to how often that size swell occurs. The diagram indicates that the dominant swell direction, shown by the longest spokes, was SSE, whereas the the most common wind blows from the WNW. Because the wave model grid is out to sea, sometimes a strong offshore wind blows largest waves away from Stewart Island - Saber Reef and offshore. We group these with the no surf category of the bar chart. To keep it simple we don't show these in the rose graph. Because wind determines whether or not waves are good for surfing at Stewart Island - Saber Reef, you can load a different image that shows only the swells that were forecast to coincide with glassy or offshore wind conditions. In a typical December, swells large enough to cause clean enough to surf waves at Stewart Island - Saber Reef run for about 2.0% of the time.

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