Skip to content
Surfhog home
Menu

Faro wave buoy observations on Thu, Aug 20, 2026

Hourly readings from the Faro wave buoy for Thu, Aug 20, 2026, including available wave height, period, direction, wind and sea temperature data.

Last observation shown

Oldest observation available

Daily means for

Latest

Period Summary

Programmatically generated summary. Hog Says

48 wave-buoy observations were recorded during the day. Typical wave height was 1.6 ft (10th–90th percentile 1.3–3 ft), while mean peak wave period was 8.7 seconds (10th–90th percentile 3.9–14.3 seconds). 3 of 144 checked values (2.1%) were excluded by quality control.

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

Line chart showing wave height, wave period and sea temperature for Faro. Use the detailed observations table below for the same data in text form.

About Faro wave buoy

Faro is an Instituto Hidrográfico Datawell Waverider moored in about 90 metres of water south of the Algarve. Directional monitoring here began in 1986, making it a long-running MONIZEE reference for the open-ocean conditions entering the Gulf of Cádiz and approaching southern Portugal.

Its current data source reports wave height, wave period, wave direction and directional spread.

Metrics are rows; hours run left to right. Times use your device time zone.
Faro wave buoy hourly observations Thu, Aug 20, 2026Last observation shown
Metric
Significant wave height (ft)-222111111111111111111212222222222233344433332222
Maximum wave height (ft)-3233222222222222222222222322-3333444567554444333
Peak period (s)-555555141414141414-15-1514141314141413-135555551414333444444444444
Mean period Tm02 (s)-444444445555555555555555544444433333444444444334
Zero-crossing period (s)-4444444555555555555555555554-4443434444444444444
Peak wave direction-SWSWSWSSWSWSSWSWSSWSSWSSWSWSWSWSWSWSSWSWSSWSWSWSSWSSWSSWSWSWSWSWSWSWSWSWSWSWWSWWSWWSWWWWWWWWWWWWWSW
Directional spread (°)-19.021.023.020.021.025.024.034.024.028.036.027.030.028.025.026.033.022.032.032.033.022.021.026.023.027.019.025.021.020.020.029.033.030.036.028.026.027.026.027.024.031.034.032.033.042.037.035.0

Swipe sideways to see more hours.

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 Instituto Hidrográfico MONIZEE network.

Learn how SurfHog combines, checks and summarizes observations in the data and methodology notes.

› Wave Buoy List