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Hornsea wave buoy monthly means for 2018

Monthly means from the Hornsea wave buoy for 2018, including available wave height, period, direction, wind and sea temperature data.

Last observation shown

Data available:  to 

Latest

Period Summary

Programmatically generated summary. Hog Says

16,537 wave-buoy observations covered 346 of 365 days (95%). Typical wave height was 2.1 ft (10th–90th percentile 0.9–5.1 ft), while mean average of more than one wave period type was 6.8 seconds (10th–90th percentile 3–11.1 seconds). Mean water temperature was 10.3°C (10th–90th percentile 5.2–14.9°C). 161 of 64,762 checked values (0.2%) were excluded by quality control.

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

Typical Significant Wave Height

2.1ft
Mean: 2.7 ft
P10–P90: 0.9 — 5.1 ft
Recorded extremes

0.3 — 18 ft

Available for 8,270 of 8,279 hourly samples

Mean Observed Wave Period

6.8secs
P10–P90: 3 — 11.1secs
Recorded extremes

1.7 — 25secs

Available for 8,239 of 8,279 hourly samples

Observed Wave Direction

ENE

Circular concentration: 63%

Mean Water Temperature

10.3°C
P10–P90: 5.2 — 14.9°C
Recorded extremes

2.5 — 18.3°C

Available for 8,162 of 8,279 hourly samples

Chart showing grouped wave observations for Hornsea. Use the table on this page for a text version of the same measurements. To open daily observations, use a linked month 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; months run left to right.
Hornsea wave buoy monthly means 2018Last observation shown
Metric
Mean significant wave height (ft)345322212343
Mean maximum wave height (ft)467443323564
Mean peak period (s)889767557868
Mean zero-crossing period (s)445444434444
Mean energy period (s)------------
Mean wave power, kilowatts per metre------------
Mean peak wave directionNEconcentration 51%ENEconcentration 69%NEconcentration 85%NEconcentration 68%ENEconcentration 78%NNEconcentration 87%ENEconcentration 71%ENEconcentration 39%NEconcentration 36%NEconcentration 73%Econcentration 85%NEconcentration 64%
Mean directional spread (°)21.420.518.220.724.020.023.924.022.720.918.819.6
Mean water temperature(°C)6.15.14.56.29.212.315.115.114.012.610.78.7

Swipe sideways to see more months.

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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