Measured wave height, sea level and wind at Landeyjahöfn, Stórhöfði and Þorlákshöfn — read from Vegagerðin's own instruments right now, not forecast.
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The day here depends on one boat, and on which mainland harbour it can use. This page shows what the instruments at those harbours are measuring right now: the wave height at the buoy off Landeyjahöfn, how high the water is standing at the quay, and the wind. These are measurements, not a forecast — the forecast for the crossing is a separate tool on this town's page.
Measured right now, not forecast
At the Landeyjahöfn buoy: slight seas.
Waves 0.5 m. The buoy took this reading .
Readings last collected .
This page is not the authority on how deep the harbour is
| Station | Wind | Sea level | Where it is | Reading taken |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Landeyjahöfn harbour | 5 km/h — a light breeze, gusting 9 km/h, from the ESE | 1.0 m | On the quay at Landeyjahöfn, the mainland harbour the ferry normally uses — about 12 km north of Heimaey, across the sound. | |
| Stórhöfði | 33 km/h — a fresh breeze, gusting 40 km/h, from the NNW | — | On the headland at the south end of Heimaey, 118 m above the sea — the island's own long-running wind station. It has no sea-level gauge, so it reports wind only. | |
| Þorlákshöfn harbour | 15 km/h — a gentle breeze, gusting 30 km/h, from the NNE | 1.0 m | On the quay at Þorlákshöfn, the harbour the ferry runs to instead when Landeyjahöfn cannot be used — about 75 km from Heimaey. |
Landeyjahöfn was built straight onto an open sand coast, fed by the outwash of glacial rivers. Sand moves along that coast and into the harbour entrance, so the entrance has to be dredged to stay usable.
When winter and spring swell is too big for the dredger to work, the depth falls below the roughly 7 metres the ferry needs. In spring 2026 the entrance depth had dropped to 1.9 metres. Nothing on this page measures that depth.
Landeyjahöfn is about 35 minutes from Heimaey. When it cannot be used, Herjólfur sails to Þorlákshöfn instead — roughly 75 km, and two and a half to three hours each way.
That is why Þorlákshöfn's quay and its buoy are on this page too: on a reroute day, that is the water and the harbour that matter.
Residents reason with wave height. A wave height of around 3 metres at the harbour is generally taken to be enough to stop sailings.
That is a local rule of thumb, not a rule. The ferry company decides each sailing on its own, and it weighs things this page does not measure — wind direction, the state of the entrance, and how loaded the boat is.
Station 1176 sits on the quay at Landeyjahöfn and reports wind, gust and sea level. Station 2159 is Stórhöfði on Heimaey, high on the south headland, and reports wind only. Station 1140 is the quay at Þorlákshöfn.
Buoy 14110 is moored west of the Landeyjahöfn entrance and measures wave height and wave period; buoy 14103 lies out near Surtsey and buoy 14104 off Þorlákshöfn. All of them are Vegagerðin's, and all of them read the water where they are — not where you are standing.
Source: Vegagerðin — waves and sea levels, checked 30 July 2026 (today).
Every number on this page is a measurement from an instrument, not a forecast. A sea level is the height of the water at that gauge: it is not the depth of the channel, not the clearance under a ship, and it cannot be combined with a required depth to work out whether a boat can enter. Wave words follow the Douglas sea scale and wind words the Beaufort scale; both describe the water and the air, and neither is a judgement that a crossing is safe.
Based on information provided by the Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration (IRCA).
| Buoy | Waves | Period | Where it is | Reading taken |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| the Landeyjahöfn buoy | 0.5 m — slight seas | 4 s | Moored a few kilometres west of the entrance to Landeyjahöfn — the water the ferry runs through on its way in. | |
| the Surtsey buoy | 0.6 m — slight seas | 3 s | Moored near Surtsey, about 20 km south-west of Heimaey. Open ocean, and usually the first of the three to feel a swell arriving from the south. | |
| the Þorlákshöfn buoy | 0.2 m — smooth water | 5 s | Moored off Þorlákshöfn, at the harbour the ferry uses when Landeyjahöfn is closed. |
Sea temperature