Vagaries of the Weather ©

This report was concerning freakish weather, and I thought was important;

Beaches in South East Asia reopened on Monday after giant waves triggered by intense winds thousands of kilometres away crashed ashore last week, reviving memories of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The waves, which were 7 metres (23 feet) high in some areas , struck large parts of Indonesia, the Maldives, Thailand and Western Australia. There was no official warning about the freakish waves that killed at least one person, damaged hundreds of homes and displaced thousands of people. Weather officials said the waves were the result of an accumulation of winds in one spot on the ocean, but were looking at why they were so intense. The phenomenon was likely caused by Kelvin waves, giant waves caused by a surge of irregular wind patterns in the Indian Ocean. It could have easily been predicted because such waves commonly occur around this time. "However, we didn't expect the waves to be of this size, that's why we need to analyse the other factors first before arriving at a conclusion." The European Space Agency said the huge waves were generated by intense storm winds in the Southern Ocean.