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Hornsea wave buoy daily means for May 2026

Daily means from the Hornsea wave buoy for May 2026, 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

1,485 wave-buoy observations covered all 31 days. Typical wave height was 2 ft (10th–90th percentile 0.6–4.6 ft), while mean average of more than one wave period type was 6.2 seconds (10th–90th percentile 2.8–10.3 seconds). Mean water temperature was 10.7°C (10th–90th percentile 9.9–12.2°C). 19 of 5,917 checked values (0.3%) were excluded by quality control. Across 16 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 6.9 seconds.

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

Typical Significant Wave Height

2ft
Mean: 2.3 ft
P10–P90: 0.6 — 4.6 ft
Recorded extremes

0.3 — 9.7 ft

Mean Observed Wave Period

6.2secs
P10–P90: 2.8 — 10.3secs
Recorded extremes

1.7 — 14.3secs

Available for 743 of 744 hourly samples

Observed Wave Direction

ENE

Circular concentration: 70%

Mean Water Temperature

10.7°C
P10–P90: 9.9 — 12.2°C
Recorded extremes

9.5 — 13.2°C

Compared With Previous Mays

Historical baseline from 23,580 observations across 16 years.

Wave Height
2.3ft
0.2ft below mean
Historical mean 2.461ft
Wave Period
6.2s
0.7s below mean
Historical mean 6.9s
Water Temperature
10.7°C
0.7°C above mean
Historical mean 10°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 2026Last observation shown
Metric
Mean significant wave height (ft)2123243224542275213211101123211
Mean maximum wave height (ft)41343742368634108325212111145312
Mean peak period (s)54496659879974101110965444334555410
Mean zero-crossing period (s)4334444334553367544333333334433
Mean energy period (s)-------------------------------
Mean wave power, kilowatts per metre-------------------------------
Mean peak wave directionEconcentration 100%ESEconcentration 95%ENEconcentration 83%NNEconcentration 100%NNEconcentration 99%NNEconcentration 97%Econcentration 87%NEconcentration 84%NNEconcentration 96%NNEconcentration 99%NNEconcentration 100%NNEconcentration 100%NNEconcentration 99%NNEconcentration 98%NNEconcentration 100%NNEconcentration 100%NNEconcentration 100%NNEconcentration 100%ESEconcentration 92%ESEconcentration 82%SEconcentration 77%ESEconcentration 74%ESEconcentration 96%ESEconcentration 85%ESEconcentration 96%NEconcentration 71%NEconcentration 98%Econcentration 96%Econcentration 100%Econcentration 78%NNEconcentration 91%
Mean directional spread (°)18.525.026.315.618.518.626.518.016.413.812.114.618.822.912.712.715.719.617.324.327.320.921.432.123.724.125.527.319.027.321.7
Mean water temperature(°C)9.910.110.010.110.19.910.010.210.410.410.210.110.110.010.010.110.210.310.310.410.610.711.411.611.911.911.912.012.112.312.4

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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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