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Hornsea wave buoy observations on Sun, Dec 16, 2018

Hourly readings from the Hornsea wave buoy for Sun, Dec 16, 2018, including available wave height, period, direction, wind and sea temperature data.

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Oldest observation available

Daily means for

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Period Summary

Programmatically generated summary. Hog Says

48 wave-buoy observations were recorded during the day. Typical wave height was 2.6 ft (10th–90th percentile 2.3–6.1 ft), while mean peak wave period was 7.9 seconds (10th–90th percentile 7.2–8.7 seconds). Mean water temperature was 8.3°C. All 192 checked values passed quality control.

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

Line chart showing wave height, wave period and sea temperature for Hornsea. Use the detailed observations table below for the same data in text form.

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; hours run left to right. Times use your device time zone.
Hornsea wave buoy hourly observations Sun, Dec 16, 2018Last observation shown
Metric
Significant wave height (ft)987776555444433333333333232222222222222233222222
Maximum wave height (ft)1314111199887666666554454444543433343334443543333544
Peak period (s)878988888989999899988778788878777788787888788788
Zero-crossing period (s)555555555544444445555445454545554444444444444444
Energy period (s)------------------------------------------------
Wave power, kilowatts per metre------------------------------------------------
Peak wave directionESEESEESEEESEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENEENEENEENEEENEENEENEEE
Directional spread (°)16.018.016.015.016.019.021.013.018.020.020.017.017.015.019.019.023.021.020.017.020.020.021.019.022.022.025.024.026.021.023.023.025.027.021.029.023.021.019.024.019.021.021.025.018.019.023.020.0
Water temperature(°C)8.48.48.48.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.48.48.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.38.3

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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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