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Piha
Auckland, New Zealandbeach breakbothFaces W36.955°S, 174.468°E

Buoys near Piha

The closest wave buoy is NDBC 51214 (King-Poloa, American Samoa), 2,908 km NE of the break — too far to read Piha directly, so this is a forecast-only coast: the rating comes from the NOAA GFS-Wave model sampled at the spot, and the buoys below are context for the wider ocean, not a live read on the lineup.

Stations are ranked by how much they tell you about Piha, not just by distance: a buoy sitting upstream — in the direction the swell comes from (about SW here) — registers a new swell before it reaches the break, so it earns a lead time; a buoy behind an island is marked as shadowed; stale reports rank below fresh ones. Readings are the latest public NOAA observations and refresh hourly.

Forecast-only coast

The NOAA stations nearest Piha are DART tsunami sensors — seafloor pressure gauges that measure water-column height, not sea state. They cannot tell you what the waves are doing; the closest wave-measuring buoy is 2,908 km away. PierMonkey rates Piha from the NOAA GFS-Wave model sampled at the spot itself, and the 16-day forecast on the Forecast tab is the source to plan from. How the rating works →

Bullseye = the break · click a marker to jump to its card · ring = 150 km
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Fewer than 6 stations within 150 km — showing the nearest 6 regardless of distance.

Also nearby

Lead times use deep-water group velocity (Cg = gT/4π ≈ 2.8 km/h per second of period) projected along the swell direction, at this break's typical period; a buoy under 40 km away reads the same swell the break is receiving. Upstream = within 30° of the swell direction; shadowing is curated per break. Observations: NOAA National Data Buoy Center. Ratings: NOAA GFS-Wave, PierMonkey Rating v3.