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Saint-Jean-de-Luz wave buoy daily means for May 2020

Daily means from the Saint-Jean-de-Luz wave buoy for May 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

1,488 wave-buoy observations covered all 31 days. Typical wave height was 2.8 ft (10th–90th percentile 1.5–6 ft), while mean average of more than one wave period type was 9.5 seconds (10th–90th percentile 5.9–12.7 seconds). Typical calculated wave power was approximately 2.4 kW/m (10th–90th percentile 0.8–14.6 kW/m), derived from significant wave height and energy period. 7 of 4,414 checked values (0.2%) were excluded by quality control. Across 7 comparable years, mean wave height was below the same-month mean of 4.1 ft and mean wave period was below the same-month mean of 9.6 seconds.

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

Typical Significant Wave Height

2.8ft
Mean: 3.4 ft
P10–P90: 1.5 — 6 ft
Recorded extremes

1.1 — 11.3 ft

Mean Observed Wave Period

9.5secs
P10–P90: 5.9 — 12.7secs
Recorded extremes

2.8 — 20.2secs

Typical Wave Power

Approximately 2.36kW/m
Mean: 6.47kW/m
P10–P90: 0.78 — 14.55kW/m
Recorded extremes

0.42 — 89.98kW/m

Calculated from significant wave height and energy period.

Available for 722 of 744 hourly samples with wave power

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 9,110 observations across 7 years.

Wave Height
3.4ft
0.7ft below mean
Historical mean 4.068ft
Wave Period
9.5s
0.1s below mean
Historical mean 9.6s
Water Temperature
–
Not enough comparable data

Chart showing grouped wave observations for Saint-Jean-de-Luz. 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 Saint-Jean-de-Luz wave buoy

Saint-Jean-de-Luz is a CANDHIS directional buoy on the French Basque coast near the Spanish border. Maintained through the Cerema-coordinated national observatory and local partners, it provides offshore context for a naturally embayed and partly protected coast exposed to southern Bay of Biscay swell.

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

Metrics are rows; days run left to right.
Saint-Jean-de-Luz wave buoy daily means May 2020Last observation shown
Metric
Mean significant wave height (ft)9642322223QC rejected42244322233864553222
Mean maximum wave height (ft)1496453323496347643344411107785323
Mean peak period (s)129996781310887106766109101011151210121312111010
Mean average period (s)1198866687677667666798712119101311868
Mean period Tm02 (s)8766544554665555555665987798645
Mean peak wave directionNWconcentration 99%NWconcentration 100%WNWconcentration 99%WNWconcentration 98%NWconcentration 90%NNWconcentration 86%NWconcentration 89%WNWconcentration 99%WNWconcentration 99%WNWconcentration 96%NNWconcentration 94%Nconcentration 99%WNWconcentration 96%NNWconcentration 97%Nconcentration 100%NNWconcentration 99%NNWconcentration 98%WNWconcentration 99%NWconcentration 100%WNWconcentration 100%WNWconcentration 98%NWconcentration 97%WNWconcentration 89%NWconcentration 99%NWconcentration 100%NWconcentration 99%NWconcentration 99%NWconcentration 99%NWconcentration 100%NWconcentration 100%NWconcentration 100%
Mean directional spread (°)32.022.420.723.927.429.827.530.430.433.126.723.126.026.621.725.031.226.824.826.926.536.531.425.026.935.029.230.028.529.428.5
Mean water temperature(°C)-------------------------------

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.

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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