Storm waves?

But at the moment I'm studying the Flood of 1953 as a case study for my AS Geography. I'm a little confused as it says that storm waves of over 6 metres were produced, but then coupled with spring tides and the funneling, the tides were only 3 metres higher than normal at the Thames?

Surely 6 metre tides + (extra things making it larger) = 6+ metre waves?

Can anyone explain this? Is it because they are 'storm tides', and in my book it refers to the 6m "generated on top" can anyone explain this please?

Officially it is classed as a Storm Surge.

That calculation is wrong.

Low Pressure allowed the Sea Level generally to rise by 0.5m and as there where strong winds which where heading towards the Thames that generated 6m waves. As the storm surge headed down the North Sea to the narrowest point sea level began to rise to 2m-3m above normal levels, so there was wide spread flooding.

The wave height doesn't really have anything to do with how high the water is, it really just has to do with how high the wind speed was. It's a common trap and misleading one.

The reason why sea level was 2m-3m higher than normal was because the storm surge was heading towards the narrowest part of the North Sea so was being funneled into a smaller area, hence sea level being 2m-3m higher at the times, and one of the reasons the Thames barrier was built.

Also don't forget to mention about the Netherlands.

I'm a bit confused with the wind and the 6m bit. So the wind created 6m high waves? What I was saying was that, from this bit if the waves were 6m high, then surely it'd be higher at the south of the north sea?

You said the wave height doesn't have anything to do with how tall the wave is, then what does it mean?