heavy seas
Storm-tossed ocean surface
Heavy seas describes ocean conditions with large, powerful waves that make navigation difficult or dangerous.
The phrase appears in maritime contexts and weather reports: The ship encountered heavy seas off the coast.
Conditions short of a full storm but rough enough to challenge vessels and cause seasickness qualify as heavy seas.
- stormSevere atmospheric disturbance
- swellsEnlarges or billows
- wavesTraveling energy disturbances
- galeSevere sustained wind
- tempestViolent windstorm or turmoil
whitecaps · trough · pitching · rolling · squall · storm surge · rogue wave · breakers · swell · turbulent · choppy · maritime · ocean · sailors · seasick · motion sickness · deck · all hands on deck
- sea stormshurricane, typhoon, tropical storm, cyclone, squall
- marine weathermarine weather, storm warning, gale warning, shipping forecast, small craft advisory
- water hazardsflash flood, river flood, coastal flooding, flooding, tsunami
sea state/water turbulence
heavy seascalm seas
Flat, waveless ocean
calm waters · still waters · dead calm · millpond · flat water
heavy, heavier, heaviest, heavily, heaviness, sea, seas, seaward, seawards