Weather Ideas

To create an interesting ocean you need there to be a good storm (not necessarily perfect) to produce such a result. I'm thinking a hurricane, because of the need for strong winds for bigger more violent waves.

 
I don't think this will be a major time investment in comparison to the rest of the project, but it could be a interesting diversion. I'm not sure just how I will be creating this effect, it depends on the plan for the final scene, if I wish to have the camera descend through the clouds I could create a 3D fluid container and manipulate vapour particles with a motion field. If there is no need for that shot I think the same effect could be achieved using a series of rotating 2D textures.

To add to the atmosphere of the scene I could use the lightning effect in Maya above / around the cloud cover, and or edit the final render in after effects. I'll probably add in rain fall and anything else I can think of once the main features of the project have been implemented.