This paper present a wave hindcast for the Río de la Plata Estuary. It was based on the version 5.16 of the numerical wave model WAVEWATCH III ®, forcing with CFSR winds and considering non-stationary water levels and currents obtained from the hydrodynamic model TELEMAC 2D. A multi-mission altimetry database processed by IFREMER was considered as the ground truth. It was taken as reference to calibrate and validate the wave model, and also to do a local validation of CFSR winds. Tuning the Γ coefficient of the JONSWAP parametrization of dissipation by bottom friction (Sbot) and the BETAMAX coefficient of the energy input by wind (Sin), it was possible to correct the large negative BIAS in significant wave height (Hs) obtained with the default configuration. The hindcast cover the period 1985–2016 providing wave parameters with a spatial resolution of 1 km and a time step of 1 hour and full spectra at a 10 km offshore distance along the coast.

A new method for the simulation of storms is proposed which takes into account the multivariate evolution of the storms, allowing to innovate in the form of each simulated storm, for all the variables involved. The method is based on two novel aspects: (a) measured storms are grouped using clusters techniques and a set of average evolution forms is defined for each cluster, one for each of the variables involved, and (b) a Vector Autoregressive model is fitted to the differences between the average evolution of each variable and the actual measured evolutions. The ability of the methodology to properly reproduce the joint probability distribution of all the variables involved is demonstrated for a case study at the mid Rio de la Plata northern coast.