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Happisburgh wave buoy daily means for Feb 2017

Daily means from the Happisburgh wave buoy for Feb 2017, 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

1,343 wave-buoy observations covered all 28 days. Typical wave height was 3.2 ft (10th–90th percentile 1.1–6 ft), while mean average of more than one wave period type was 5.7 seconds (10th–90th percentile 3.9–7.4 seconds). Mean water temperature was 5.3°C (10th–90th percentile 4.9–5.9°C). All 5,369 checked values passed quality control. Across 4 comparable years, mean wave height was above the same-month mean of 2.6 ft and mean wave period was below the same-month mean of 6.9 seconds.

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

Typical Significant Wave Height

3.2ft
Mean: 3.3 ft
P10–P90: 1.1 — 6 ft
Recorded extremes

0.6 — 8.7 ft

Mean Observed Wave Period

5.7secs
P10–P90: 3.9 — 7.4secs
Recorded extremes

1.7 — 10secs

Observed Wave Direction

ESE

Circular concentration: 60%

Mean Water Temperature

5.3°C
P10–P90: 4.9 — 5.9°C
Recorded extremes

4.6 — 6.3°C

Compared With Previous Februarys

Historical baseline from 5,329 observations across 4 years.

Wave Height
3.3ft
0.7ft above mean
Historical mean 2.559ft
Wave Period
5.7s
1.2s below mean
Historical mean 6.9s
Water Temperature
5.3°C
0.4°C above mean
Historical mean 4.9°C

Chart showing grouped wave observations for Happisburgh. 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 Happisburgh wave buoy

Happisburgh is a Channel Coastal Observatory wave station off the northeast Norfolk coast. It supplies a nearshore North Sea record for one of England's most rapidly changing soft-cliff frontages, where communities, beaches and coastal defences are exposed to frequent erosion.

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

Metrics are rows; days run left to right.
Happisburgh wave buoy daily means Feb 2017Last observation shown
Metric
Mean significant wave height (ft)4432124544477522111223534453
Mean peak period (s)5555466767787754444456686666
Mean zero-crossing period (s)4444344544455533333344454454
Mean peak wave directionSEconcentration 98%SSEconcentration 99%SSEconcentration 98%SSEconcentration 92%Econcentration 69%NEconcentration 99%Econcentration 75%NEconcentration 100%NEconcentration 99%NEconcentration 99%NEconcentration 98%ENEconcentration 99%ENEconcentration 99%ENEconcentration 94%SEconcentration 81%SSEconcentration 98%Econcentration 74%SSEconcentration 76%SSEconcentration 90%SSEconcentration 92%SEconcentration 55%Sconcentration 99%SSEconcentration 71%NEconcentration 96%SSEconcentration 70%Sconcentration 99%SSEconcentration 99%SSEconcentration 98%
Mean directional spread (°)28.425.526.933.938.727.227.121.527.928.427.322.123.727.033.732.444.732.935.640.244.731.031.638.124.022.821.430.6
Mean water temperature(°C)5.05.15.25.25.25.35.35.35.14.94.84.84.84.95.05.05.15.25.25.45.55.75.75.85.85.96.16.1

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 Regional Coastal Monitoring Programme.

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

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