Skip to content
Surfhog home
Menu

Sevenstones wave buoy daily means for May 2012

Daily means from the Sevenstones wave buoy for May 2012, 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

741 wave-buoy observations covered all 31 days. Typical wave height was 3 ft (10th–90th percentile 1.6–5.6 ft), while the reported wave period averaged 6.8 seconds (10th–90th percentile 6–8 seconds). Typical wind was 16.1 mph (10th–90th percentile 8.1–26.5 mph) and mean water temperature was 11.6°C (10th–90th percentile 10.9–12.7°C). 4 of 3,704 checked values (0.1%) were excluded by quality control. Across 2 comparable years, mean wave height was below the same-month mean of 4.8 ft and mean wave period was below the same-month mean of 7.6 seconds.

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

Typical Significant Wave Height

3ft
Mean: 3.3 ft
P10–P90: 1.6 — 5.6 ft
Recorded extremes

0.7 — 8.5 ft

Available for 739 of 741 hourly samples

Mean Observed Wave Period

6.8secs
P10–P90: 6 — 8secs
Recorded extremes

4 — 10secs

Typical Observed Wind

Variable, 16.1mph
Mean: 16.4 mph
P10–P90: 8.1 — 26.5 mph
Recorded extremes

2.3 — 38 mph

Circular concentration: 11%

Available for 739 of 741 hourly samples

Mean Water Temperature

11.6°C
P10–P90: 10.9 — 12.7°C
Recorded extremes

10.6 — 14.1°C

Available for 740 of 741 hourly samples

Compared With Previous Mays

Historical baseline from 1,480 observations across 2 years.

Wave Height
3.3ft
1.5ft below mean
Historical mean 4.8ft
Wave Period
6.8s
0.8s below mean
Historical mean 7.6s
Water Temperature
11.6°C
0.5°C below mean
Historical mean 12.1°C

Chart showing grouped wave observations for Sevenstones. 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 Sevenstones wave buoy

Sevenstones Lightship (WMO 62107) is a UK Met Office station west of Land's End, near the Seven Stones reef in the Western Approaches. Its exposed offshore position shows Atlantic systems before they reach Cornwall and the western English Channel and provides context for a notoriously hazardous shipping area.

Its current data source reports wave height, wave period, wave direction, directional spread, wind conditions, sea temperature, separate swell and wind-sea components and wave spectra.

Metrics are rows; days run left to right.
Sevenstones wave buoy daily means May 2012Last observation shown
Metric
Mean significant wave height (ft)3322323346521573443223553344222
Mean maximum wave height (ft)-------------------------------
Mean maximum crest height (ft)-------------------------------
Mean maximum trough height (ft)-------------------------------
Mean peak period (s)-------------------------------
Mean average period (s)-------------------------------
Mean period Tm02 (s)-------------------------------
Mean zero-crossing period (s)-------------------------------
Mean maximum wave period (s)-------------------------------
Mean reported period (s)6677665668755777777678998677777
Mean peak wave direction-------------------------------
Mean wave direction-------------------------------
Mean directional spread (°)-------------------------------
Mean wind directionESEconcentration 98%ENEconcentration 90%ENEconcentration 75%ENEconcentration 81%NEconcentration 92%Econcentration 51%SSWconcentration 86%WSWconcentration 60%SSEconcentration 47%SWconcentration 91%NNWconcentration 87%NNEconcentration 97%Variableconcentration 25%WNWconcentration 90%NNWconcentration 98%WSWconcentration 34%Econcentration 98%Nconcentration 35%SEconcentration 36%Nconcentration 94%NWconcentration 84%SSWconcentration 97%Sconcentration 93%NEconcentration 86%ENEconcentration 90%ESEconcentration 86%ESEconcentration 91%SSEconcentration 90%SEconcentration 88%WSWconcentration 77%WSWconcentration 97%
Mean wind speed (mph)20171113211420132228231712252682615913111191319231517141115
Mean water temperature(°C)11.011.011.311.210.810.810.911.011.011.111.111.211.511.211.111.611.411.311.711.711.912.112.312.212.111.912.312.412.813.313.5

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 Met Office Marine observations.

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

› Wave Buoy List