73. Less than 1 percent of the wind speeds has been observed to equal 
or exceed 15 m/sec, while on only one occasion during any year would the speed 
be expected to exceed 20 m/sec (recall the speed is an average computed over 
at least 10 min), as indicated in Table 7. Wind speeds are most often between 
5 and 10 m/sec. 
Table 7 
Wind Speed Distribution* for 1980-1982 
Meenas: Annual Jan-Mar Apr-Jun Jul-Sep Oct-Dec 
20+ OR2 0.1 0.4 0.0 On 
15-19 0.6 0.7 0.1 0.3 Jed 
10-14 To) 9.9 4.5 2.9 1305 
5-9 49.3 52.5 52.4 47.7 4M 7 
0-4 42.0 36.8 42.6 49.1 4o.4 
Wave Data 
74. This section presents summaries of the wave data collected at the 
FRF. A review of the wave conditions during 1982 and a comparison to previous 
years is followed by a discussion of the wave climate for 1980 through 1982 
combined. Appendix B contains summaries for each gage which include height 
and period distributions, wave direction distributions, and persistence 
tables. A discussion of individual major storms is given in Part VI, and Ap- 
pendix D contains hourly wave data for times when the heights ene exceeded 
2m at the seaward end of the FRF pier. 
Present data year 
75. Spatial variation. The distribution of wave heights for buoy 
gage 620, located 3 km offshore, and pier end staff gage 625 were essentially 
the same for heights below 3 m during 1982 (Figure 9). For the few observed 
heights above 3 m, wave heights were larger at the gage located 3 km from 
shore than they were at the gage at the seaward end of the pier. Refraction, 
bottom friction, and the effect of depth in limiting the wave energy ina 
spectrum would cause the observed differences in storm wave heights. Wave 
statistics for staff gage 615, located at the landward end of the pier in 
HO 
