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Smooth, slight, rough, phenomenal — wave height in words.
Also known as: Wave height scale, Sea slight moderate rough
A scale describing wave height rather than wind. It matters because the sea does not follow the wind immediately: a rough sea can persist in a calm, and a strong wind takes hours to raise one.
A scale describing the state of the sea surface by significant wave height, from calm through smooth, slight, moderate and rough to very high and phenomenal.
Contexts: Navigation
Reports the sea and not the wind, and the two are frequently out of step. Waves take time to build and longer to subside, so a rough sea under a light wind is ordinary rather than contradictory.
Sea state is not a restatement of the Beaufort number.
Significant wave height is the mean of the highest third of waves, so individual waves substantially exceed the figure and the largest may be nearly twice it.
A descriptive word, sometimes with a numeral, given in a forecast table or spoken in a broadcast.