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Lowestoft wave buoy daily means for Jul 2018

Daily means from the Lowestoft wave buoy for Jul 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

1,433 wave-buoy observations covered all 31 days. Typical wave height was 1.4 ft (10th–90th percentile 0.7–3.5 ft), while mean average of more than one wave period type was 5 seconds (10th–90th percentile 3.1–7 seconds). Mean water temperature was 18.4°C (10th–90th percentile 17–20°C). All 5,718 checked values passed quality control. Across 2 comparable years, mean wave height was below the same-month mean of 2 ft and mean wave period was the same as the same-month mean of 5 seconds.

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

Typical Significant Wave Height

1.4ft
Mean: 1.8 ft
P10–P90: 0.7 — 3.5 ft
Recorded extremes

0.4 — 8.1 ft

Mean Observed Wave Period

5secs
P10–P90: 3.1 — 7secs
Recorded extremes

1.7 — 9.5secs

Observed Wave Direction

E

Circular concentration: 62%

Mean Water Temperature

18.4°C
P10–P90: 17 — 20°C
Recorded extremes

16.2 — 20.6°C

Compared With Previous Julys

Historical baseline from 2,976 observations across 2 years.

Wave Height
1.8ft
0.2ft below mean
Historical mean 1.969ft
Wave Period
5s
In line with the historical mean
Historical mean 5s
Water Temperature
18.4°C
0.5°C above mean
Historical mean 17.9°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 Jul 2018Last observation shown
Metric
Mean significant wave height (ft)333211222QC rejected322111111111111114532
Mean maximum wave height (ft)-------------------------------
Mean peak period (s)6556767657656654454344443345654
Mean zero-crossing period (s)4444444444444433333333333334443
Mean energy period (s)-------------------------------
Mean wave power, kilowatts per metre-------------------------------
Mean peak wave directionENEconcentration 98%ENEconcentration 98%ENEconcentration 98%NEconcentration 96%NEconcentration 97%NEconcentration 94%NEconcentration 99%NEconcentration 98%NEconcentration 98%NEconcentration 99%NEconcentration 97%ENEconcentration 97%NEconcentration 98%ENEconcentration 90%ESEconcentration 77%ESEconcentration 88%SSEconcentration 75%SEconcentration 82%ESEconcentration 87%SEconcentration 82%ENEconcentration 74%Econcentration 85%SSEconcentration 91%Sconcentration 98%ENEconcentration 54%Econcentration 83%ENEconcentration 81%Sconcentration 97%Sconcentration 99%Sconcentration 99%Sconcentration 98%
Mean directional spread (°)32.932.733.233.740.838.035.034.833.229.936.039.737.839.745.551.442.543.848.843.944.448.540.133.739.748.340.230.721.325.333.0
Mean water temperature(°C)16.616.816.917.117.317.417.617.817.917.717.617.617.617.818.018.318.518.618.618.718.919.119.219.419.519.719.920.020.120.120.1

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.

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