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Hornsea wave buoy daily means for Dec 2024

Daily means from the Hornsea wave buoy for Dec 2024, 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

1,483 wave-buoy observations covered all 31 days. Typical wave height was 2.7 ft (10th–90th percentile 1.2–7 ft), while mean average of more than one wave period type was 10 seconds (10th–90th percentile 4–14.8 seconds). Mean water temperature was 8.8°C (10th–90th percentile 8.2–9.7°C). 24 of 5,892 checked values (0.4%) were excluded by quality control. Across 14 comparable years, mean wave height was above the same-month mean of 3.1 ft and mean wave period was above the same-month mean of 8.7 seconds.

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

Typical Significant Wave Height

2.7ft
Mean: 3.5 ft
P10–P90: 1.2 — 7 ft
Recorded extremes

0.7 — 13.7 ft

Mean Observed Wave Period

10secs
P10–P90: 4 — 14.8secs
Recorded extremes

1.9 — 18.2secs

Available for 741 of 744 hourly samples

Observed Wave Direction

NNE

Circular concentration: 75%

Mean Water Temperature

8.8°C
P10–P90: 8.2 — 9.7°C
Recorded extremes

8 — 9.9°C

Available for 743 of 744 hourly samples

Compared With Previous Decembers

Historical baseline from 20,637 observations across 14 years.

Wave Height
3.5ft
0.4ft above mean
Historical mean 3.15ft
Wave Period
10s
1.3s above mean
Historical mean 8.7s
Water Temperature
8.8°C
0.5°C above mean
Historical mean 8.3°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 Dec 2024Last observation shown
Metric
Mean significant wave height (ft)33QC rejected3346119632222223463473111112QC rejected
Mean maximum wave height (ft)45955691814105333334469451042122235
Mean peak period (s)1110111068711986581196135813125111015151614121114
Mean zero-crossing period (s)4475445665444443444744754563334
Mean energy period (s)-------------------------------
Mean wave power, kilowatts per metre-------------------------------
Mean peak wave directionNEconcentration 80%NNEconcentration 97%NNEconcentration 100%NEconcentration 80%ESEconcentration 60%NNEconcentration 67%ENEconcentration 60%NNEconcentration 100%NEconcentration 99%ENEconcentration 100%ENEconcentration 99%NEconcentration 99%NEconcentration 88%NNEconcentration 100%Nconcentration 75%WNWconcentration 54%NNEconcentration 90%SEconcentration 51%NNEconcentration 98%NNEconcentration 100%NNEconcentration 100%NWconcentration 74%NNEconcentration 100%NNEconcentration 100%NNEconcentration 100%NNEconcentration 100%NNEconcentration 100%NNEconcentration 100%Nconcentration 54%NNEconcentration 32%NNEconcentration 100%
Mean directional spread (°)20.921.013.816.719.216.516.213.418.520.024.926.121.321.620.922.024.723.719.815.520.219.811.515.427.926.525.426.529.426.322.6
Mean water temperature(°C)9.79.89.79.79.79.69.59.29.08.88.88.88.88.78.88.98.99.08.98.78.78.58.28.28.28.28.28.28.18.18.1

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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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