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Rustington wave buoy daily means for May 2026

Daily means from the Rustington wave buoy for May 2026, 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

1,485 wave-buoy observations covered all 31 days. Typical wave height was 1.4 ft (10th–90th percentile 0.6–3.2 ft), while the reported wave period averaged 3.5 seconds (10th–90th percentile 3–5 seconds). Mean water temperature was 14.2°C (10th–90th percentile 13.2–16.3°C). All 5,940 checked values passed quality control. Across 9 comparable years, mean wave height was below the same-month mean of 1.9 ft and mean wave period was below the same-month mean of 4.8 seconds.

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

Typical Significant Wave Height

1.4ft
Mean: 1.7 ft
P10–P90: 0.6 — 3.2 ft
Recorded extremes

0.3 — 6.6 ft

Mean Observed Wave Period

3.5secs
P10–P90: 3 — 5secs
Recorded extremes

2 — 7secs

Observed Wave Direction

SSW

Circular concentration: 63%

Mean Water Temperature

14.2°C
P10–P90: 13.2 — 16.3°C
Recorded extremes

12.5 — 17.9°C

Compared With Previous Mays

Historical baseline from 8,577 observations across 9 years.

Wave Height
1.7ft
0.2ft below mean
Historical mean 1.9ft
Wave Period
3.5s
1.3s below mean
Historical mean 4.8s
Water Temperature
14.2°C
1°C above mean
Historical mean 13.2°C

Chart showing grouped wave observations for Rustington. 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 Rustington wave buoy

Rustington is a National Network Datawell Directional WaveRider in about 9.9 metres of water off West Sussex. First deployed on 15 July 2003, it provides a long nearshore record for the low-lying frontage between Littlehampton and Worthing, where beaches form an important part of the coastal defences.

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.
Rustington wave buoy daily means May 2026Last observation shown
Metric
Mean significant wave height (ft)2111111123124212235421111112112
Mean maximum wave height (ft)-------------------------------
Mean peak period (s)-------------------------------
Mean zero-crossing period (s)-------------------------------
Mean energy period (s)-------------------------------
Mean reported period (s)3333333333334433334444554443334
Mean wave power, kilowatts per metre-------------------------------
Mean peak wave direction-------------------------------
Mean directional spread (°)-------------------------------
Mean reported wave directionSEconcentration 79%SSWconcentration 71%SSWconcentration 84%SSWconcentration 75%SEconcentration 86%Econcentration 56%SEconcentration 91%ESEconcentration 97%ESEconcentration 90%Econcentration 99%Variableconcentration 8%SSWconcentration 83%SWconcentration 98%SSWconcentration 76%WSWconcentration 69%SWconcentration 80%SWconcentration 98%SWconcentration 98%SSWconcentration 99%SWconcentration 99%SWconcentration 100%SSWconcentration 98%SWconcentration 100%SWconcentration 100%SSWconcentration 98%SSWconcentration 98%SSEconcentration 59%ESEconcentration 83%SWconcentration 88%SWconcentration 98%SWconcentration 97%
Mean water temperature(°C)12.713.013.213.413.513.613.613.813.913.713.513.513.613.613.413.313.513.513.613.814.014.314.715.215.415.816.016.216.516.717.0

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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