Skip to content
Surfhog home
Menu

Ch. Lightship wave buoy daily means for Oct 2020

Daily means from the Ch. Lightship wave buoy for Oct 2020, including available wave height, period, direction, wind and sea temperature data.

Last observation shown

Data available:  to 

Monthly means for

Latest

Period Summary

Programmatically generated summary. Hog Says

690 wave-buoy observations covered 30 of 31 days (97%). Typical wave height was 4.9 ft (10th–90th percentile 1.6–9.2 ft), while mean reported wave period; measurement type unavailable was 6.8 seconds (10th–90th percentile 5–8 seconds). Typical wind was 26.4 mph (10th–90th percentile 15–38 mph) and mean water temperature was 15.5°C (10th–90th percentile 14.9–16°C). 4 of 3,450 checked values (0.1%) were excluded by quality control. Across 10 comparable years, mean wave height was above the same-month mean of 4.5 ft and mean wave period was below the same-month mean of 7.4 seconds.

Generated only from the observations and comparisons shown on this page.

Typical Wave Height

4.9ft
Mean: 5.2 ft
P10–P90: 1.6 — 9.2 ft
Recorded extremes

1 — 15.4 ft

Mean Wave Period

6.8secs
P10–P90: 5 — 8secs
Recorded extremes

5 — 11secs

Mean Water Temperature

15.5°C
P10–P90: 14.9 — 16°C
Recorded extremes

14.5 — 16.4°C

Typical Wind

Variable, 26.4mph
Mean: 26.7 mph
P10–P90: 15 — 38 mph
Recorded extremes

5.8 — 54.1 mph

Circular concentration: 29%

Available for 686 of 690 hourly samples

Compared With Previous Octobers

Historical baseline from 7,358 observations across 10 years.

Wave Height
5.2ft
0.7ft above mean
Historical mean 4.5ft
Wave Period
6.8s
0.6s below mean
Historical mean 7.4s
Water Temperature
15.5°C
0.1°C below mean
Historical mean 15.6°C

Chart showing grouped wave observations for Ch. Lightship. Use the table on this page for a text version of the same measurements. To open hourly observations, use a linked day name in the table.

About Ch. Lightship wave buoy

Channel Lightship (WMO 62103) is a UK Met Office station in the central English Channel. Its offshore position provides marine observations away from the immediate influence of the coast and is useful for tracking conditions along this major shipping route. The feed can include wind, pressure, air and sea temperature, visibility and wave observations when available.

Metrics are rows; days run left to right.
Ch. Lightship wave buoy daily means Oct 2020Last observation shown
Metric
Mean wave height (ft)57787856433246421136533799710-99
Mean observed period(s)7Reported7Reported6Reported7Reported7Reported7Reported7Reported7Reported7Reported6Reported6Reported6Reported6Reported7Reported6Reported5Reported6Reported7Reported6Reported7Reported8Reported6Reported6Reported7Reported9Reported8Reported7Reported8Reported-8Reported8Reported
Mean wave power(kW/m)-------------------------------
Mean wind directionWSWconcentration 70%NEconcentration 87%NNWconcentration 95%WNWconcentration 95%Wconcentration 92%Wconcentration 95%Wconcentration 82%Wconcentration 83%WNWconcentration 91%NWconcentration 97%NNWconcentration 98%WSWconcentration 46%NNWconcentration 91%NEconcentration 95%NNEconcentration 98%ENEconcentration 90%ESEconcentration 94%SEconcentration 87%SSEconcentration 98%Sconcentration 98%SSWconcentration 36%SSWconcentration 94%SWconcentration 90%SSWconcentration 93%WSWconcentration 89%Wconcentration 98%WSWconcentration 85%WSWconcentration 98%-SSWconcentration 95%SSWconcentration 80%
Mean wind speed (mph)25323938323625272125212025322619151227262119233529323236-3033
Mean water temperature(°C)16.316.116.115.915.915.915.815.915.815.615.715.615.515.415.415.315.315.315.315.415.315.215.215.114.914.914.814.7-14.814.7

Swipe sideways to see more days.

Wave metric colour key

Colours move through the scale as each number increases. They do not by themselves mean that conditions are good, safe or suitable for you.

Wave & swell height0–40+ ft
Wave & swell period0–22+ s
Wind speed0–75 mph

The displayed numbers remain the source of truth; colour is an additional visual cue.

Which wave period is shown?

The table shows the best period measurement supplied for each observation. It is not necessarily the energy period used to calculate wave power.

Tp
Peak period: the period at the strongest spectral peak.
Tavg
The provider's average wave period.
Tm02
A mean period calculated from the wave spectrum.
Tz
Mean zero-crossing period.
Reported
A legacy value whose period type was not recorded.
Mixed
A daily or monthly mean containing more than one period type.

Wave power needs a genuine energy period (Te). SurfHog does not substitute Tp, Tavg, Tm02 or Tz when Te is missing.

What does buoy wave power mean?

kW/m means kilowatts of wave power per metre of wave crest. It describes the rate at which the observed sea state carries energy past the buoy.

Unlike the shore-directed forecast value, buoy wave power is the total power at the observation point. It is not projected towards a particular beach and does not predict breaking wave height.

In deep water, wave power can be calculated with:

P is approximately 0.49 times significant wave height squared times wave energy period.

P is power in kW/m, Hs is significant wave height in metres, and Te is wave energy period in seconds.

  • Provider-reported power is used when available.
  • Otherwise, a value is calculated only when both significant height and a genuine energy period are available. The ≈ symbol marks calculated values.
  • A dash is shown instead of substituting peak, Tm02, zero-crossing or other period measurements.
  • Daily and monthly figures use the mean of hourly-normalized observation power values; they are not calculated from mean height and period.

Wave direction, spectrum, water depth and local bathymetry still matter. Wave power is best read alongside height, period and direction rather than as a standalone surf-quality score.

The observation data displayed on this page is from the UK Met Office.

› Wave Buoy List