Satellites spot 115 ft 'monster' waves in Pacific danger zone

"Satellites have confirmed what mariners long suspected but could never fully prove: the open Pacific can spawn waves as tall as a ten‑story building, marching across entire ocean basins. The latest measurements of 115 foot crests in a volatile North Pacific corridor turn a once anecdotal “rogue wave” legend into a precisely mapped hazard zone for ships, coastlines, and critical infrastructure.

Those towering walls of water did not just batter one storm center and fade. They radiated outward, circling the globe and feeding powerful swells that later hammered places like Hawaii and the U.S. West Coast, underscoring how a single extreme event in the mid‑ocean can shape surf, flooding risk, and coastal safety thousands of miles away.
For the first time, a network of orbiting instruments has tracked a North Pacific mega‑storm in real time as it generated waves up to 115 feet high in deep water. Using radar altimeters and other sensors, Satellites Spot the storm’s most violent seas in the central Pacific, capturing individual crests that rival the height of city office blocks.
Forecasts for the U.S. mainland show how that plays out on the ground, with Waves as tall as 10 feet expected to pound west‑facing beaches in San Diego County starting Friday. Local officials warn that the incoming swell will generate dangerous rip currents along the entire San Diego County coastline, a reminder that even “moderate” surf heights can be deadly when combined with long‑period energy from a distant storm." msn