Why are the West Wales reports sometimes different to the Pembroke Buoy?
We’ve been asked this question a couple of times recently. The answer is valid for most comparisoms between the NWW3 data and the buoy but the examples I give are for Freshwest and the Local buoy. The surf report at the top of the page is based on the latest NWW3 data not on the buoy reports (it mentions this on the left on every forecast page “Current conditions reports are based on the latest forecast conditions, not on wave buoy observations.”) – there will be discrepencies with the pembroke buoy as it is located very nearshore and the swell here is already experiencing decay against the offshore swell data. This report serves two purposes – it provides a ‘virtual buoy’ for the majority of surfers who aren’t fortunate enough to have a buoy directly offshore and it provides and essential tool for comparing what you see now with what the forecast is calling for the next few days so that the size and strength of a coming swell can be called. Whilst, of course, we want to maintain a goo
