Whitby wave buoy
United Kingdom
Last wave reading:
Now at the buoy
Significant wave height at the buoy
10.1 ft
3.1 m
- Dominant period
- 11 s
- Direction
- from NNE 20°
This station does not send a swell and wind-wave split, so the numbers are for the whole sea.
Mid-period swell: 10.1 ft at 11 s from the NNE. Holding steady over the last 6 hours.
Significant wave height is the average of the biggest third of waves at the buoy. It is not surf height at a beach.
Trend at the buoy
Height at the buoy
- Total (significant height)
Period
- Dominant period
Hourly means of the buoy's readings. Arrows point the way the waves travel.
Model vs the buoy
- Buoy, hourly
- Model, past days
- Model forecast
Over the last 2 days, the model tracked the buoy within 10%.
| Day | Height | Peak period | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri, Nov 13 | 9.0 ft | 10 s | N |
| Sat, Nov 14 | 5.1 ft | 9.5 s | N |
| Sun, Nov 15 | 6.4 ft | 5.8 s | NNW |
| Mon, Nov 16 | 7.3 ft | 8.4 s | NNW |
| Tue, Nov 17 | 6.5 ft | 11 s | N |
| Wed, Nov 18 | 6.2 ft | 12 s | N |
| Thu, Nov 19 | 7.3 ft | 12 s | NNE |
ECMWF WAM wave model via Open-Meteo, nearest model cell (54.500°N, 0.500°W). Both lines are significant wave height at sea, the same measure the buoy reports. Model output, not a Quiver beach forecast.
Nearby buoys
- Scarborough wave buoy9.4 ft · 11 sLive · 30 km
- Tyne/Tees WaveNet Site10.6 ft · 11 sLive · 47 km
- Hornsea wave buoy6.9 ft · 10 sLive · 74 km
- Newbiggin wave buoy6.4 ft · 9.1 sLive · 94 km
- Cleeton AWS10.5 ftLive · 102 km
- Spurn Point Wave buoy4.8 ft · 9.5 sLive · 116 km
Other readings
- Water temperature
- 52°F (11.0°C)
Reported Nov 13, 6:30 AM GMT.
How to read this buoy
Over the readings shown here, most wave energy reached this buoy from the N.
Biggest hourly reading in that record: 12.4 ft at 11 s on Nov 12.
- Station id
- 6201046
- Operator
- North East Coastal Observatory; National Network of Regional Coastal Monitoring Programmes (NNRCMP)
- Program
- Copernicus Marine In Situ
- Position
- 54.505°N, 0.608°W
- Type
- Moored buoy
- Local time zone
- Europe/London
- Swell split
- No, whole-sea numbers only
Source: E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information; https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00036. Data from North East Coastal Observatory; National Network of Regional Coastal Monitoring Programmes (NNRCMP). Licence: Copernicus Marine Service licence. Changes: Quiver converts the units (feet, knots, °F) and shows a subset of the published fields.
Not for navigation. Readings can be late, missing or wrong; check official marine forecasts before going to sea.
Buoy terms
- Significant height
- The average of the biggest third of waves the buoy measured. Sets in the surf zone can be bigger or smaller.
- Dominant period
- Seconds between the waves carrying the most energy. Longer period means more power and more bend around points.
- Swell vs wind waves
- Swell was made by distant wind; wind waves were made nearby. The buoy splits its spectrum at a cutoff period to report each.
- Direction
- Where waves come from, in degrees true. 270° is from the west.
