According to the measurements by the Croatian Hydrographic Institute a record-breaking wave was measured on November 12, 2019 at 16:00 hours.
The wave was registered near the islet of Sv. Andrija (7 NM west from Dubrovnik) and its maximum height was Hmax= 10.87 m with the significant wave height Hs= 4.75 m (significant wave height is the average of the highest one third of waves) wave period T = 10 s and the sea state 6. The wave direction was Dirp = 167.1° (the wave direction is determined by the direction the waves are coming from, just like the wind direction). Until now, the record-breaking wave was recorded in the northern Adriatic (platform Panon) in February 1986 with the maximum height of 10.8 m, significant wave height Hs = 6.0 m, mean period Tsr = 8.5 s and the mean wave length Lsr = 112 m.
Both waves were generated by long and strong SE wind (known as jugo). Even though the difference in the maximum height was only 7 cm, the record-breaking wave brought new pespective into the perception of Adriatic sea waves. It is clear that extremelly high waves are possible not only in northern parts of the Adriatic (long fetch line, no obstacles, more shallow sea…) but on its entire surface (open sea). Obviously, these are newly recoreded waves (the measurements near Sv. Andrija have only been done for the past year and a half) which does not mean that there have not been higher ones in the past.
According to theoretical calculations, it is possible to expect the wave as high as 14 m and it might not even be the limit!
