Skip to content
Surfhog home
Menu

Lowestoft wave buoy daily means for May 2018

Daily means from the Lowestoft wave buoy for May 2018, 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

1,461 wave-buoy observations covered all 31 days. Typical wave height was 1.7 ft (10th–90th percentile 0.6–3.7 ft), while mean average of more than one wave period type was 5.2 seconds (10th–90th percentile 3.4–6.9 seconds). Mean water temperature was 10.8°C (10th–90th percentile 8.8–12.6°C). 12 of 5,794 checked values (0.2%) were excluded by quality control. Across 2 comparable years, mean wave height was below the same-month mean of 2.3 ft and mean wave period was above the same-month mean of 5.1 seconds.

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

Typical Significant Wave Height

1.7ft
Mean: 2 ft
P10–P90: 0.6 — 3.7 ft
Recorded extremes

0.4 — 7.7 ft

Mean Observed Wave Period

5.2secs
P10–P90: 3.4 — 6.9secs
Recorded extremes

1.8 — 25secs

Available for 735 of 740 hourly samples

Observed Wave Direction

ENE

Circular concentration: 70%

Mean Water Temperature

10.8°C
P10–P90: 8.8 — 12.6°C
Recorded extremes

8.1 — 14°C

Compared With Previous Mays

Historical baseline from 2,976 observations across 2 years.

Wave Height
2ft
0.3ft below mean
Historical mean 2.264ft
Wave Period
5.2s
0.1s above mean
Historical mean 5.1s
Water Temperature
10.8°C
0.7°C below mean
Historical mean 11.5°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 2018Last observation shown
Metric
Mean significant wave height (ft)QC rejectedQC rejected11111111211334432112332232321
Mean maximum wave height (ft)-------------------------------
Mean peak period (s)8654545744345556876544565555566
Mean zero-crossing period (s)5533433333334344554433444444444
Mean energy period (s)-------------------------------
Mean wave power, kilowatts per metre-------------------------------
Mean peak wave directionENEconcentration 60%SSEconcentration 99%SEconcentration 79%SEconcentration 77%Econcentration 67%ESEconcentration 89%ESEconcentration 60%ESEconcentration 47%Econcentration 40%SEconcentration 48%SEconcentration 89%Econcentration 84%ENEconcentration 90%NNEconcentration 95%NEconcentration 98%NEconcentration 98%NEconcentration 99%NEconcentration 98%NEconcentration 98%ENEconcentration 98%Econcentration 82%NNEconcentration 93%NEconcentration 98%NEconcentration 99%NEconcentration 98%NEconcentration 99%ENEconcentration 98%ENEconcentration 98%NEconcentration 96%NEconcentration 98%NEconcentration 99%
Mean directional spread (°)30.122.744.643.249.947.853.945.241.943.437.843.742.231.733.731.631.336.037.642.245.132.831.433.636.832.832.538.936.236.937.3
Mean water temperature(°C)8.48.58.78.99.29.49.79.910.110.110.110.410.510.610.710.710.710.911.111.211.311.511.711.812.012.112.312.712.813.013.1

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.

› Wave Buoy List