Height, period and direction

Just like with buoys, height indicates the average wave size, period indicates quality and spacing, and direction shows where the swell is coming from. Together, these three figures determine whether a spot is going to work well.

Local wind

Offshore wind (blowing from land to sea) tends to groom the waves and improve their quality; onshore wind (from sea to land) tends to make them messy and choppy.

Tides

Many spots work best at a particular tide stage. Check the high and low tide times and levels to know when your favourite spot usually breaks best.

How to read the table

Scroll horizontally or use the arrows to see the hour-by-hour forecast for every available day. Each day starts with its date and is separated from the previous one by a vertical line, so you can compare at a glance how the sea changes during the week.

Table rows

Each column is an hour of the day and each row a forecast value. Tap the info icon next to each row name for a quick explanation.

Hour

Local time the column data refers to. Only daylight hours, from 06h to 23h, are shown.

Wave bar

Shows the wave height. Its size is relative to the highest wave of all the days shown, so you can compare at a glance which hours and days will have the biggest sea. The colour shows the height: blue up to 0.9 m, orange between 0.9 and 1.5 m and red from 1.5 m.

Waves height (m)

Significant wave height, in metres: the average of the highest third of the waves. You will see many smaller waves and some sets bigger than this value.

Waves direction (°)

Direction the waves come from. The arrow points where the waves are heading: an arrow pointing down means waves coming from the north. Tap or hover over it to see the value in degrees (0° = north, 90° = east, 180° = south, 270° = west).

Waves period (s)

Average time in seconds between two consecutive waves. The higher it is, the more powerful and organised the waves.

Waves max period (s)

Period of the most widely spaced waves forecast for that hour. If it is much higher than the average period, a more powerful swell is mixed with wind waves.

Wind speed (km/h)

Average wind speed, in kilometres per hour. Below 10 km/h the sea is usually cleaner.

Wind direction (°)

Direction the wind blows from, shown like the wave direction. Offshore wind (from land) cleans up the waves; onshore wind (from the sea) messes them up.