The outlook moves.
Your information should keep up.
A small revision can change the best part of the day. Fresh guidance gives you more time to adjust.
Built around fast access to new runs
Windswelltide prioritises making new model output available as quickly as practical after its data providers release it. The aim is to minimise avoidable delay between fresh guidance becoming available and you being able to use it.
Availability still depends on upstream release schedules, delivery and processing. This is a design priority, not a guaranteed refresh interval or a claim to beat every other forecast service.
Why a few hours can matter
Swell arrival
A later pulse may favour the afternoon instead of dawn. An earlier arrival could bring the useful swell into your morning window.
A wind change
An earlier onshore change can shorten the clean part of the day. Revised wind strength may also change which coast looks best.
Swell direction
A shift in the forecast direction can change exposure, making a sheltered reef or a more open beach worth another look.
The tide overlap
Revised swell or wind timing changes its overlap with your preferred tide. Tide predictions are a separate input, not part of the weather model run.
Know which time you are reading
- Model-run time
- The starting time of the model calculation. A 00 UTC run is not necessarily published at 00 UTC.
- Availability or retrieval time
- When output is released by a provider or fetched by a service. Fetching again does not necessarily mean a new model run.
- Forecast time
- The future hour the prediction describes. Compare this same hour across models, paying attention to the displayed timezone.
Use the forecast’s Updated control for the available run details. Read its labels carefully: run time and retrieval time answer different questions.
Newer information, considered carefully
A fresh run can incorporate newer observations, but it is not automatically more accurate in every detail. Treat a sudden change as a reason to reassess. Compare other models and revisit later runs to see whether the signal persists.
- Identify the hours you can surf and your preferred conditions.
- Check the latest available model guidance and its run details.
- Reassess any change that affects your spot or timing.
- Before leaving, compare the forecast with observations and local conditions.