Skip to content
Surfhog home
Menu

K5 wave buoy daily means for Oct 2016

Daily means from the K5 wave buoy for Oct 2016, 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

736 wave-buoy observations covered all 31 days. Typical wave height was 10.5 ft (10th–90th percentile 7.2–16.7 ft), while mean reported wave period; measurement type unavailable was 7.2 seconds (10th–90th percentile 6–9 seconds). Typical wind was 20.8 mph (10th–90th percentile 10.3–28.9 mph) and mean water temperature was 12.2°C (10th–90th percentile 11.7–12.5°C). 9 of 3,680 checked values (0.2%) were excluded by quality control. Across 6 comparable years, mean wave height was below the same-month mean of 11.3 ft and mean wave period was above the same-month mean of 7.1 seconds.

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

Typical Wave Height

10.5ft
Mean: 11.1 ft
P10–P90: 7.2 — 16.7 ft
Recorded extremes

4.6 — 22.6 ft

Available for 731 of 736 hourly samples

Mean Wave Period

7.2secs
P10–P90: 6 — 9secs
Recorded extremes

5 — 11secs

Available for 732 of 736 hourly samples

Mean Water Temperature

12.2°C
P10–P90: 11.7 — 12.5°C
Recorded extremes

11.5 — 12.7°C

Typical Wind

S, 20.8mph
Mean: 20.5 mph
P10–P90: 10.3 — 28.9 mph
Recorded extremes

4.7 — 38 mph

Circular concentration: 54%

Compared With Previous Octobers

Historical baseline from 4,447 observations across 6 years.

Wave Height
11.1ft
0.2ft below mean
Historical mean 11.3ft
Wave Period
7.2s
0.1s above mean
Historical mean 7.1s
Water Temperature
12.2°C
0.6°C above mean
Historical mean 11.6°C

Chart showing grouped wave observations for K5. 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 K5 wave buoy

K5 (WMO 64045) is a UK Met Office buoy in the far North Atlantic west of Scotland. It provides observations from a sparsely monitored ocean area upstream of the Hebrides and northern UK waters. The international feed includes marine weather and sea-temperature observations, with wave and wind parameters present only when the relevant sensors are reporting.

Metrics are rows; days run left to right.
K5 wave buoy daily means Oct 2016Last observation shown
Metric
Mean wave height (ft)891714111411108689910119611813139119121918QC rejected121212
Mean observed period(s)8Reported7Reported9Reported8Reported7Reported8Reported7Reported6Reported7Reported6Reported6Reported7Reported6Reported6Reported6Reported6Reported6Reported7Reported6Reported8Reported8Reported7Reported9Reported8Reported7Reported9Reported8Reported9Reported8Reported8Reported8Reported
Mean wave power(kW/m)-------------------------------
Mean wind directionWconcentration 89%SSEconcentration 94%SSEconcentration 97%Sconcentration 80%SSEconcentration 98%SSEconcentration 99%SEconcentration 98%SSEconcentration 98%Sconcentration 98%SSEconcentration 94%SEconcentration 96%SSEconcentration 99%SEconcentration 97%Econcentration 99%ENEconcentration 96%Econcentration 96%Variableconcentration 30%WNWconcentration 98%SSWconcentration 68%Sconcentration 99%Sconcentration 98%SSEconcentration 96%SSEconcentration 96%Sconcentration 91%SSWconcentration 96%WSWconcentration 98%Wconcentration 95%WSWconcentration 92%Sconcentration 98%WSWconcentration 70%WNWconcentration 97%
Mean wind speed (mph)9222713252626201712192025232517132216202317121527323024211918
Mean water temperature(°C)12.412.412.412.512.412.412.412.412.412.512.612.512.512.412.412.312.212.112.112.112.112.112.212.112.112.011.911.811.711.711.6

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.

Which wave period is shown?

The table shows the best period measurement supplied for each observation. It is not necessarily the energy period used to calculate wave power.

Tp
Peak period: the period at the strongest spectral peak.
Tavg
The provider's average wave period.
Tm02
A mean period calculated from the wave spectrum.
Tz
Mean zero-crossing period.
Reported
A legacy value whose period type was not recorded.
Mixed
A daily or monthly mean containing more than one period type.

Wave power needs a genuine energy period (Te). SurfHog does not substitute Tp, Tavg, Tm02 or Tz when Te is missing.

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 UK Met Office.

› Wave Buoy List