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Hornsea wave buoy daily means for May 2015

Daily means from the Hornsea wave buoy for May 2015, 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 1.8 ft (10th–90th percentile 1–3.3 ft), while mean average of more than one wave period type was 6.5 seconds (10th–90th percentile 2.4–10.6 seconds). Mean water temperature was 9.6°C (10th–90th percentile 8.6–10.6°C). 18 of 5,796 checked values (0.3%) were excluded by quality control. Across 5 comparable years, mean wave height was below the same-month mean of 2.5 ft and mean wave period was below the same-month mean of 6.6 seconds.

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

Typical Significant Wave Height

1.8ft
Mean: 2 ft
P10–P90: 1 — 3.3 ft
Recorded extremes

0.6 — 7.7 ft

Available for 743 of 744 hourly samples

Mean Observed Wave Period

6.5secs
P10–P90: 2.4 — 10.6secs
Recorded extremes

1.7 — 18.2secs

Available for 739 of 744 hourly samples

Observed Wave Direction

NNE

Circular concentration: 44%

Mean Water Temperature

9.6°C
P10–P90: 8.6 — 10.6°C
Recorded extremes

8.1 — 11°C

Available for 743 of 744 hourly samples

Compared With Previous Mays

Historical baseline from 7,312 observations across 5 years.

Wave Height
2ft
0.5ft below mean
Historical mean 2.526ft
Wave Period
6.5s
0.1s below mean
Historical mean 6.6s
Water Temperature
9.6°C
0.1°C below mean
Historical mean 9.7°C

Chart showing grouped wave observations for Hornsea. 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 Hornsea wave buoy

Hornsea is a Channel Coastal Observatory wave station off the rapidly eroding Holderness coast of East Yorkshire. Its North Sea record provides local wave context for Hornsea's defended frontage and the adjacent soft-cliff coastline, where storms drive substantial shoreline change.

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

Metrics are rows; days run left to right.
Hornsea wave buoy daily means May 2015Last observation shown
Metric
Mean significant wave height (ft)33QC rejected2332333221332121221121112112
Mean maximum wave height (ft)5594543444332453222221232222123
Mean peak period (s)877745910787378971384564589953434
Mean zero-crossing period (s)4454435545333453333433344533333
Mean energy period (s)-------------------------------
Mean wave power, kilowatts per metre-------------------------------
Mean peak wave directionNNEconcentration 100%NEconcentration 82%Econcentration 99%ENEconcentration 95%SEconcentration 69%SSEconcentration 72%Nconcentration 75%NEconcentration 81%NEconcentration 58%NNEconcentration 99%Variableconcentration 30%WSWconcentration 88%Nconcentration 65%NNEconcentration 97%NNEconcentration 100%Nconcentration 78%NNEconcentration 68%Variableconcentration 18%Wconcentration 42%NNWconcentration 65%Nconcentration 78%NWconcentration 56%ENEconcentration 68%ENEconcentration 59%NNEconcentration 100%NNEconcentration 100%NNEconcentration 56%Wconcentration 85%Variableconcentration 18%NWconcentration 68%Variableconcentration 26%
Mean directional spread (°)13.520.520.925.121.918.120.514.720.917.123.922.019.218.416.721.334.227.430.521.221.725.727.115.818.015.821.220.626.124.622.4
Mean water temperature(°C)8.38.48.58.78.88.88.88.98.99.09.39.49.69.69.69.79.79.69.69.69.79.910.110.310.310.510.610.510.510.610.6

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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