New weather buoy off Orange Beach is a boost for boaters - al.com

New weather buoy off Orange Beach is a boost for boaters - al.com: "ORANGE BEACH — Officials are hoping that a new $300,000 weather buoy recently anchored 12 miles south of Perdido Pass will provide boaters with better data when planning trips to sea.

For years, boaters and forecasters along Alabama's coast relied on a buoy anchored about 70 miles south of Dauphin Island for Gulf of Mexico weather data.

Floating in about 800 feet of water, that buoy provides plenty of data, from wave height to wind speed, but it's not that close to Orange Beach. And the data often doesn't reflect the same conditions found in more nearshore waters, said Orange Beach Coastal Resources Manager Phillip West."