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Lowestoft wave buoy daily means for Sep 2020

Daily means from the Lowestoft wave buoy for Sep 2020, 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

1,438 wave-buoy observations covered all 30 days. Typical wave height was 1.9 ft (10th–90th percentile 1.1–5.5 ft), while mean average of more than one wave period type was 5.6 seconds (10th–90th percentile 3.8–7.2 seconds). Mean water temperature was 16.5°C (10th–90th percentile 14.4–17.3°C). 5 of 5,720 checked values (0.1%) were excluded by quality control. Across 4 comparable years, mean wave height was above 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

1.9ft
Mean: 2.7 ft
P10–P90: 1.1 — 5.5 ft
Recorded extremes

0.6 — 8.8 ft

Mean Observed Wave Period

5.6secs
P10–P90: 3.8 — 7.2secs
Recorded extremes

1.8 — 11.8secs

Available for 719 of 720 hourly samples

Observed Wave Direction

E

Circular concentration: 55%

Mean Water Temperature

16.5°C
P10–P90: 14.4 — 17.3°C
Recorded extremes

14.2 — 17.8°C

Compared With Previous Septembers

Historical baseline from 5,687 observations across 4 years.

Wave Height
2.7ft
0.4ft above mean
Historical mean 2.297ft
Wave Period
5.6s
0.5s above mean
Historical mean 5.1s
Water Temperature
16.5°C
1.1°C below mean
Historical mean 17.6°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 Sep 2020Last observation shown
Metric
Mean significant wave height (ft)223211222222211255552133577323
Mean maximum wave height (ft)33522223322341147997324571011534
Mean peak period (s)646555555554557566765456789665
Mean zero-crossing period (s)444434433433333345554344455444
Mean energy period (s)------------------------------
Mean wave power, kilowatts per metre------------------------------
Mean peak wave directionNEconcentration 98%ESEconcentration 55%Sconcentration 99%SSEconcentration 89%ENEconcentration 81%NEconcentration 95%Econcentration 56%SSEconcentration 99%SEconcentration 52%NEconcentration 94%SEconcentration 37%Sconcentration 98%Sconcentration 99%SEconcentration 66%ENEconcentration 90%NEconcentration 98%ENEconcentration 98%ENEconcentration 98%ENEconcentration 99%ENEconcentration 99%ENEconcentration 98%ESEconcentration 73%Sconcentration 99%SSEconcentration 99%NEconcentration 72%NEconcentration 96%NEconcentration 99%NEconcentration 99%NEconcentration 97%SSEconcentration 60%
Mean directional spread (°)40.638.026.039.449.145.739.834.636.344.336.736.327.244.746.842.232.930.027.028.438.541.628.431.237.330.828.334.641.832.2
Mean water temperature(°C)17.317.317.317.317.217.017.017.017.017.016.916.916.917.017.117.116.916.716.516.516.616.616.716.516.114.914.514.414.314.3

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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