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Lowestoft wave buoy daily means for May 2016

Daily means from the Lowestoft wave buoy for May 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

1,488 wave-buoy observations covered all 31 days. Typical wave height was 2 ft (10th–90th percentile 0.8–4.2 ft), while mean peak wave period was 5.3 seconds (10th–90th percentile 3.5–7.4 seconds). Mean water temperature was 11.1°C (10th–90th percentile 9.3–12.4°C). All 5,951 checked values passed quality control.

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

Typical Significant Wave Height

2ft
Mean: 2.3 ft
P10–P90: 0.8 — 4.2 ft
Recorded extremes

0.4 — 7.3 ft

Mean Observed Wave Period

5.3secs
P10–P90: 3.5 — 7.4secs
Recorded extremes

1.7 — 11.8secs

Observed Wave Direction

ENE

Circular concentration: 64%

Mean Water Temperature

11.1°C
P10–P90: 9.3 — 12.4°C
Recorded extremes

8.7 — 12.9°C

Chart showing grouped wave observations for Lowestoft. 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 Lowestoft wave buoy

Lowestoft is a Channel Coastal Observatory wave station off the Suffolk coast at Britain's most easterly town. Its North Sea observations provide local context for the harbour approaches, developed seafront and low-lying coastline around Lowestoft and northern Suffolk.

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.
Lowestoft wave buoy daily means May 2016Last observation shown
Metric
Mean significant wave height (ft)2311111132234432221231243222255
Mean maximum wave height (ft)-------------------------------
Mean peak period (s)5554344556666776655554477854477
Mean zero-crossing period (s)4433333344444554433443345543344
Mean energy period (s)-------------------------------
Mean wave power, kilowatts per metre-------------------------------
Mean peak wave directionESEconcentration 49%Sconcentration 99%ESEconcentration 52%SEconcentration 92%ESEconcentration 98%Econcentration 88%Econcentration 89%ENEconcentration 94%ENEconcentration 96%NEconcentration 99%NEconcentration 99%NEconcentration 98%NEconcentration 98%NEconcentration 99%NEconcentration 99%ENEconcentration 74%ENEconcentration 63%SSEconcentration 99%SEconcentration 69%SSEconcentration 99%SSEconcentration 99%SEconcentration 93%NNEconcentration 77%NEconcentration 99%NEconcentration 99%NEconcentration 99%NEconcentration 98%ENEconcentration 89%NNEconcentration 96%NEconcentration 99%NEconcentration 100%
Mean directional spread (°)33.620.540.241.138.146.549.645.233.730.431.727.725.526.928.837.234.229.338.229.426.944.937.327.932.731.933.436.932.323.727.4
Mean water temperature(°C)8.99.09.29.49.69.910.210.510.710.911.111.211.411.211.211.111.111.211.511.611.812.112.112.112.112.212.312.412.512.612.4

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.

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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