The London Weather Station

On the 1st December 2007 some pretty big waves hit the coast of Ireland. In fact 'pretty big' is understating it... they were 55ft in size - the biggest waves ever measured around uk and ireland. Some crazy dudes surfed them. Just look for yourselves:

When a broad area of very low pressure sits in the Atlantic to the north of Ireland waves are allowed to travel uninterrupted for a long distance. The waves had been growing for between 500 and 600 miles when they reached the Irish coastline.

Waves like this are very rare. Last time anything comparable took place was 2005 and 2000.

Dr Nolan warned that the entire west coast, from Cork up to Donegal, was affected. The weatherforecast was so bad that it was predicted to be hazardous to ships and fishing vessels.

Met Éireann itself issued a gale warning at 4am on Friday that southwest winds will reach gale force on coasts from Fair Head to Carnsore Point to Valentia and the Irish Sea.

Previously the biggest waves recorded by the Marine Institute's data buoys were to the west of Galway Bay on January 17th 2005, whith swells of 44ft (13.4m).

The high seas come just weeks after the east coast of England braced itself for tidal surges, sparking flood fears and evacuations.