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Happisburgh wave buoy daily means for May 2023

Daily means from the Happisburgh 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

1,486 wave-buoy observations covered all 31 days. Typical wave height was 2.2 ft (10th–90th percentile 1–3.9 ft), while mean average of more than one wave period type was 6.4 seconds (10th–90th percentile 4.1–10.5 seconds). Mean water temperature was 12.6°C (10th–90th percentile 10.9–14.2°C). 6 of 5,930 checked values (0.1%) were excluded by quality control. Across 11 comparable years, mean wave height was above the same-month mean of 2.1 ft and mean wave period was above the same-month mean of 6.3 seconds.

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

Typical Significant Wave Height

2.2ft
Mean: 2.3 ft
P10–P90: 1 — 3.9 ft
Recorded extremes

0.4 — 6.5 ft

Mean Observed Wave Period

6.4secs
P10–P90: 4.1 — 10.5secs
Recorded extremes

1.8 — 15.4secs

Available for 742 of 743 hourly samples

Observed Wave Direction

NE

Circular concentration: 92%

Mean Water Temperature

12.6°C
P10–P90: 10.9 — 14.2°C
Recorded extremes

10.1 — 14.9°C

Compared With Previous Mays

Historical baseline from 13,778 observations across 11 years.

Wave Height
2.3ft
0.2ft above mean
Historical mean 2.1ft
Wave Period
6.4s
0.1s above mean
Historical mean 6.3s
Water Temperature
12.6°C
0.5°C above mean
Historical mean 12.1°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 May 2023Last observation shown
Metric
Mean significant wave height (ft)1334222111144232221334422222443
Mean peak period (s)1167677754446665671055556758129555
Mean zero-crossing period (s)5444555433344444543334453444444
Mean peak wave directionNNEconcentration 100%NNEconcentration 97%NEconcentration 89%ENEconcentration 99%NEconcentration 99%NEconcentration 100%NEconcentration 99%ENEconcentration 96%ENEconcentration 96%NNEconcentration 80%NEconcentration 93%NEconcentration 95%NEconcentration 99%NNEconcentration 100%Nconcentration 94%NNEconcentration 98%NNEconcentration 99%NNEconcentration 99%ENEconcentration 92%ENEconcentration 99%NEconcentration 98%NNEconcentration 97%NNEconcentration 99%NNEconcentration 99%NEconcentration 97%NEconcentration 94%NNEconcentration 99%NNEconcentration 95%NEconcentration 100%NNEconcentration 99%NNEconcentration 99%
Mean directional spread (°)24.022.526.419.222.322.720.328.637.037.537.524.820.624.321.524.426.832.332.225.825.923.521.023.932.131.627.727.730.626.826.8
Mean water temperature(°C)10.410.710.810.911.111.411.611.912.012.212.512.412.112.112.112.212.412.612.813.113.313.513.513.713.814.014.214.314.314.214.1

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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