Why have we experienced such huge waves over the last few days ?

The United Kingdom has been battered by huge waves up to 30ft (the height of C block ) -the picture above was taken in Cornwall - but why so huge?

The size of the wave depends on three factors:

• how long the wind has been blowing
• the distance the wave has travelled over  (called the fetch )
• and the length of time the wind has been blowing 

Now look at the satellite image for the recent storm:

The storm is huge - covering the whole of the North Atlantic - winds have been blowing at over 70 mph - Cornwall is located in the South West of England

Can you make the connections?