Is Magic Seaweed accurate?

[yngkmd]

ive been checking magic sea weed for a few weeks and comparing their surf forcast against the actual conditions as seen on the portrush webcam.

the conditions being reported on magic seaweed are always a much bigger swell than is actually hits the beaches.
i appreaciate swells can drop as they hit the coast but today magic sea weed is reporting 13ft swells and from the direction they are travelling they are hitting the beach head on but on the beach itself the waves are barely 2ft.

can anyone account for the discrepency or is it magic seaweed is wrong?

[screeming reels]

Hi the seaweed can be pretty accurate out to 2-3 days, on winds, i feel they are forecasting for the offshore conditions with the weather patterns they show.
I do not feel its representative of the inshore conditions, as there are many local factors on beaches that may well decrease the size of swells and sea states
its a good generalization of whats going to happen, but as you have noticed, often the forecast is bigger than what you recieve on the beach , the conditions forecast will be more accurate as to whats happening offshore by a couple of miles.
regards
screeming

[dbrock]

i find magic seaweed excellent for the wind, no idea about the swells

[jd]

Magic Seaweed is based on the GFS (US) model, which isn't as accurate as some forecast models (UK Met Office, European Centre for Medium Wave Forecasts) in these parts. I don't know of any surf forecasts based on the other models, I might have a look around, a comparison would be interesting. On a related note, does anyone find that ME tend to overstate the expected wind speeds?

[paul mason]

Magic Seaweed is based on the GFS (US) model, which isn't as accurate as some forecast models (UK Met Office, European Centre for Medium Wave Forecasts) in these parts. I don't know of any surf forecasts based on the other models, I might have a look around, a comparison would be interesting. On a related note, does anyone find that ME tend to overstate the expected wind speeds?

I think M.E. tend to overrate, wind forecasts and it probably relates back to the great miss forecast of the 80s when Michael fish on the BBC stated that the wind would not be too bad, and then we were hit by hurricane Charley which caused major devastation across Ireland and the UK. M.E. fair play to them got it right at the time. So I think they play the game of better safe than sorry now.

[saving private brian]

wats all this about magic sea weed.is it a weather site.if so can some1 send me a link.

thanks

[donal domeney]

wats all this about magic sea weed.is it a weather site.if so can some1 send me a link.

thanks

http://magicseaweed.com/msw-surf-charts ... starttime=
Play around with the different options

[Shambo]

I gave up on magic seaweed a long time ago, I now use askmoby if it's any help, use surfing as the activity and it gives you wave height, swells, wind speed etc.... Find it reasonably accurate.

[thebigman]

Limited to places near to surfing venues but I find that windguru is usually accurate - http://www.windguru.cz/int/