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Les Pierres Noires wave buoy daily means for May 2016

Daily means from the Les Pierres Noires wave buoy for May 2016, 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

1,455 wave-buoy observations covered all 31 days. Typical wave height was 3.2 ft (10th–90th percentile 1.7–6.9 ft), while mean peak wave period was 9.4 seconds (10th–90th percentile 6.7–12 seconds). Typical calculated wave power was approximately 3.5 kW/m (10th–90th percentile 1–18.7 kW/m), derived from significant wave height and energy period. 5 of 4,365 checked values (0.1%) were excluded by quality control. Across 6 comparable years, mean wave height was below the same-month mean of 5 ft and mean wave period was below the same-month mean of 9.5 seconds.

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

Typical Significant Wave Height

3.2ft
Mean: 3.9 ft
P10–P90: 1.7 — 6.9 ft
Recorded extremes

1.1 — 10.4 ft

Mean Observed Wave Period

9.4secs
P10–P90: 6.7 — 12secs
Recorded extremes

3.6 — 18.9secs

Available for 741 of 742 hourly samples

Typical Wave Power

Approximately 3.53kW/m
Mean: 7.59kW/m
P10–P90: 0.98 — 18.65kW/m
Recorded extremes

0.39 — 45.12kW/m

Calculated from significant wave height and energy period.

Typical Observed Wind

-, -mph
Mean: - mph
P10–P90: - — - mph

Available for 0 of 742 hourly samples

Mean Water Temperature

-°C
P10–P90: - — -°C

Available for 0 of 742 hourly samples

Compared With Previous Mays

Historical baseline from 8,873 observations across 6 years.

Wave Height
3.9ft
1.1ft below mean
Historical mean 5.02ft
Wave Period
9.4s
0.1s below mean
Historical mean 9.5s
Water Temperature
–
Not enough comparable data

Chart showing grouped wave observations for Les Pierres Noires. 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 Les Pierres Noires wave buoy

Les Pierres Noires is a CANDHIS directional buoy west of Brittany, maintained through the French national sea-state observatory and its scientific and maritime partners. Its position near the offshore reef and lighthouse represents fully exposed Atlantic conditions approaching the Iroise Sea and western Brittany.

Its current data source reports wave height, wave period, wave direction, directional spread and sea temperature.

Metrics are rows; days run left to right.
Les Pierres Noires wave buoy daily means May 2016Last observation shown
Metric
Mean significant wave height (ft)3475663342222221388666635532223
Mean maximum wave height (ft)471199955643333225111281091057743334
Mean peak period (s)66111112121078898710910118109910913141198789
Mean average period (s)66101011109677786677107987888111187675
Mean peak wave directionWconcentration 100%WNWconcentration 99%WNWconcentration 100%WNWconcentration 100%WNWconcentration 100%Wconcentration 100%WNWconcentration 99%SSWconcentration 40%SSWconcentration 97%WSWconcentration 92%Wconcentration 97%WSWconcentration 94%Wconcentration 99%Wconcentration 98%Wconcentration 100%Wconcentration 100%Wconcentration 100%Wconcentration 99%Wconcentration 100%Wconcentration 100%Wconcentration 100%Wconcentration 100%Wconcentration 100%Wconcentration 100%Wconcentration 100%Wconcentration 100%Wconcentration 99%WSWconcentration 98%SWconcentration 99%SWconcentration 97%WNWconcentration 97%
Mean directional spread (°)31.626.521.024.622.725.030.430.931.334.539.037.835.831.432.332.225.025.723.826.826.525.825.530.824.326.135.133.331.732.929.9
Mean water temperature(°C)-------------------------------

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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.

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.

Observation data source

Learn how SurfHog combines, checks and summarizes observations in the data and methodology notes.

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