Bundoran (The Peak) Alert Guide

County Donegal, Ireland · part of the Bundoran (The Peak) spot guide

The Peak is forecast-only in our system — no usable in-spot buoy within ~250 km — so the alert runs on the model. The height below is an open-ocean reading, not the face.

The forecaster's checklist

1. 1.Hunt North Atlantic lows tracking Newfoundland to Iceland or parked southwest of Ireland, with a fetch aimed at Donegal Bay.
2. 2.Give it about two to four days from a mid-Atlantic low; watch the build 48 to 96 hours out.
3. 3.Run on models — the nearest buoy is ~250 km — cross-checking the Marine Institute M6 sentinel buoy (upstream) and M4 in Donegal Bay for arriving sea state.
4. 4.Read the tell as three needles at once: a west-to-northwest swell of 12 seconds or more, a southeast offshore, and a low-to-mid pushing tide.
5. 5.Dress for it and mind the shallow rock — this is not a beginner’s wave.

Local winds & tide

Best wind: SE offshore into the WSW-facing reef — from 100° to 170° (E–S).

Tide-sensitive — best on the lower-to-mid tide on the push; it needs a lower tide at size and breaks through all tides once big. No tide series is modelled.

Dial it in