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Perranporth wave buoy daily means for May 2025

Daily means from the Perranporth wave buoy for May 2025, 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

1,482 wave-buoy observations covered all 31 days. Typical wave height was 2.5 ft (10th–90th percentile 1.5–7 ft), while the reported wave period averaged 5.1 seconds (10th–90th percentile 4–6.5 seconds). Mean water temperature was 13.9°C (10th–90th percentile 12.7–15.2°C). All 5,928 checked values passed quality control. Across 14 comparable years, mean wave height was below the same-month mean of 3.9 ft and mean wave period was below the same-month mean of 8.4 seconds.

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

Typical Significant Wave Height

2.5ft
Mean: 3.2 ft
P10–P90: 1.5 — 7 ft
Recorded extremes

0.9 — 10.1 ft

Mean Observed Wave Period

5.1secs
P10–P90: 4 — 6.5secs
Recorded extremes

3 — 9secs

Observed Wave Direction

WNW

Circular concentration: 92%

Mean Water Temperature

13.9°C
P10–P90: 12.7 — 15.2°C
Recorded extremes

12.2 — 16.1°C

Compared With Previous Mays

Historical baseline from 11,548 observations across 14 years.

Wave Height
3.2ft
0.7ft below mean
Historical mean 3.9ft
Wave Period
5.1s
3.3s below mean
Historical mean 8.4s
Water Temperature
13.9°C
1.4°C above mean
Historical mean 12.5°C

Chart showing grouped wave observations for Perranporth. 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 Perranporth wave buoy

Perranporth is a National Network Datawell Directional WaveRider in about 14 metres of water off Cornwall's exposed north coast. First deployed on 18 December 2006, it records Atlantic swell approaching Perranporth and neighbouring beaches; a separate shore station supplies the local weather context.

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.
Perranporth wave buoy daily means May 2025Last observation shown
Metric
Mean significant wave height (ft)2343332222332112222233248886554
Mean maximum wave height (ft)-------------------------------
Mean peak period (s)-------------------------------
Mean zero-crossing period (s)-------------------------------
Mean energy period (s)-------------------------------
Mean reported period (s)7644444456766545665544446666565
Mean wave power, kilowatts per metre-------------------------------
Mean peak wave direction-------------------------------
Mean directional spread (°)-------------------------------
Mean reported wave directionWconcentration 97%WNWconcentration 97%NWconcentration 93%NWconcentration 91%NNWconcentration 96%WNWconcentration 90%WNWconcentration 95%WNWconcentration 85%Wconcentration 98%Wconcentration 97%Wconcentration 94%WNWconcentration 95%Wconcentration 94%Wconcentration 97%WNWconcentration 86%WNWconcentration 89%Wconcentration 97%Wconcentration 98%Wconcentration 96%Wconcentration 98%Wconcentration 99%Wconcentration 98%Wconcentration 98%Wconcentration 99%Wconcentration 98%Wconcentration 99%Wconcentration 99%Wconcentration 98%Wconcentration 98%Wconcentration 98%Wconcentration 98%
Mean water temperature(°C)12.512.812.712.712.712.612.812.912.913.013.113.313.413.913.914.014.114.414.314.614.515.015.115.115.014.914.815.015.215.515.5

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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