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Les Pierres Noires wave buoy daily means for May 2023

Daily means from the Les Pierres Noires wave buoy for May 2023, 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

1,488 wave-buoy observations covered all 31 days. Typical wave height was 3.9 ft (10th–90th percentile 2.2–6.8 ft), while mean peak wave period was 9.7 seconds (10th–90th percentile 7.5–12.2 seconds). Typical calculated wave power was approximately 6.2 kW/m (10th–90th percentile 1.2–17.7 kW/m), derived from significant wave height and energy period. 18 of 4,464 checked values (0.4%) were excluded by quality control. Across 13 comparable years, mean wave height was below the same-month mean of 4.9 ft and mean wave period was the same as the same-month mean of 9.7 seconds.

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

Typical Significant Wave Height

3.9ft
Mean: 4.2 ft
P10–P90: 2.2 — 6.8 ft
Recorded extremes

1 — 11.2 ft

Mean Observed Wave Period

9.7secs
P10–P90: 7.5 — 12.2secs
Recorded extremes

2.5 — 16.2secs

Available for 741 of 744 hourly samples

Typical Wave Power

Approximately 6.23kW/m
Mean: 8.29kW/m
P10–P90: 1.2 — 17.7kW/m
Recorded extremes

0.32 — 56.38kW/m

Calculated from significant wave height and energy period.

Typical Observed Wind

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

Available for 0 of 744 hourly samples

Mean Water Temperature

-°C
P10–P90: - — -°C

Available for 0 of 744 hourly samples

Compared With Previous Mays

Historical baseline from 19,231 observations across 13 years.

Wave Height
4.2ft
0.7ft below mean
Historical mean 4.921ft
Wave Period
9.7s
In line with the historical mean
Historical mean 9.7s
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 2023Last observation shown
Metric
Mean significant wave height (ft)4344574579864454323434444432332
Mean maximum wave height (ft)64668117711151396796425756767753443
Mean peak period (s)10912108999101111912121010991311101111111112119443
Mean average period (s)99987887910108911898691091091091086444
Mean period Tm02 (s)7766567577866866656767676654333
Mean peak wave directionWconcentration 100%Wconcentration 100%WSWconcentration 100%WSWconcentration 100%WSWconcentration 99%WSWconcentration 99%WSWconcentration 100%Wconcentration 100%Wconcentration 100%Wconcentration 99%WNWconcentration 100%WNWconcentration 100%WNWconcentration 100%WNWconcentration 100%WNWconcentration 100%WNWconcentration 100%WNWconcentration 99%WNWconcentration 98%WNWconcentration 100%Wconcentration 100%Wconcentration 100%WNWconcentration 100%WNWconcentration 100%WNWconcentration 100%WNWconcentration 100%WNWconcentration 100%WNWconcentration 100%WNWconcentration 98%ENEconcentration 83%ENEconcentration 79%ENEconcentration 79%
Mean directional spread (°)26.628.626.427.628.127.030.228.925.023.323.425.024.122.524.325.529.332.526.924.626.722.823.422.322.220.824.127.736.434.933.7
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.

The observation data displayed on this page is from the Cerema CANDHIS coastal wave observatory.

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

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