Live wave height, wind and water temp — plus an 8-day forecast scored 0–100 for every sport.
Photo: Karan Jain from Washington, DC, USA / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Today at Playa Chica: Epic! for kite foiling — 92/100 for expert level. Wind 9 kn W · Waves 0.6 m, 8 s · Tide -0.6 to -0.1 m. Best window around 06:00 UTC. Today's conditions at Playa Chica: 0.6m waves with moderate cross-shore wind. Kite Foiling looks Epic! in the morning, with Surfing also worth considering. Water temperature is 21°C / 70°F.
Forecast updated · ShorSense™
Today plus the next two days are free for everyone — scored in 3-hour windows, just like the app. The full 8-day forecast lives in the 4Shor app.
Satellite-derived bathymetry with 10 m pixels and 10 cm vertical resolution out to ~40 m depth. The shape of the seabed is what determines where and how waves break.
Most apps run a single global model at 9–25 km. We blend regional NWP from national meteorological offices at 1.3–2 km — UK Met Office UKV, Météo-France AROME HD, ItaliaMeteo ICON-2I — with ECMWF IFS for the 8-day horizon. Finer resolution means the sea breeze, cliff funnelling and bay shadowing that changes everything for a session.
A nearshore wave model propagates the spectrum across the bathymetric mesh — modelling refraction, shoaling, dissipation, focusing and breaking as it goes. Most apps stop at swell + wind. We go further.
10 sport models × 4 ability levels weight wave height, period, wind, tide and breaking conditions differently — calibrated against ridden sessions so the scores mean what they say.
This is a tiny, sandy cove enclosed by rocks and harbour walls at the southern tip of town, where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean. Poniente wind creates sheltered, flat water suited to expert kitesurfing out of season, but it is forbidden in summer (roughly July-Sept) when reserved for families. Water is cold even in summer, with strong currents. Municipal lifeguards with jet skis cover the coast daily, 1 July-30 Sept, 12:00-20:00. Dogs not permitted.
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Get the free Playa Chica widgetToday's conditions for Playa Chica are free. Unlock the full 8-day forecast and per-sport alerts that ping you when this location is about to fire. more than 2,500 European locations, scored from the seabed up.
Playa Chica scores 64/100 today for surfing at intermediate level — Okay. Wind 9 kn W · Waves 0.6 m, 8 s · Tide -0.6 to -0.1 m. Best window around 11:00 UTC. Scores are updated hourly by 4Shor ShorSense™.
Wind at Playa Chica today: 9 kn W (gusting 22 kn). Wind direction relative to the shore affects surfing conditions significantly — offshore winds produce cleaner, glassier surfaces while onshore winds add chop. These are daily averages; the 4Shor app shows hourly detail.
Waves at Playa Chica today: 0.6 m, 8 s period from N, peeling character. 4Shor derives nearshore wave conditions from ECMWF IFS 9-km atmospheric data and the IBI regional ocean model, updated hourly.
The best window for surfing at Playa Chica today is around 11:00 UTC, when conditions score 64/100 for intermediate level. Conditions can shift by the hour — the 4Shor app shows the full 24-hour score chart.
For beginners, Playa Chica scores 89/100 today for surfing — Excellent. A score of 65–79 is Good for a beginner; 80+ is Excellent (90+ is Epic!); below 45 the session is usually not worth it. 4Shor scores every location across Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and Expert levels.
Playa Chica is scored for Surfing, Windsurfing, Kite Surfing, Kite Foiling, Wing Foiling, E-Foiling, Paddleboarding, Swimming, Kayaking, Canoeing in the 4Shor forecast system. Conditions are rated Beginner through Expert for each sport, updated every hour, so you always know whether the session is worth the drive.
Playa Chica is a coastal location near Tarifa in Spain. It is one of more than 2,500 European water-sport locations scored daily by 4Shor.
4Shor's ShorSense™ system combines satellite-derived seafloor mapping, nearshore wave models, wind and tide data to generate a hyper-local forecast. At Playa Chica, conditions are scored hourly on a 0–100 scale for each sport and ability level. A score of 80+ means Excellent (90+ Epic!); 65–79 is Good; below 45 the session is usually not worth the drive.
Questions about 4Shor itself — accuracy, pricing, the free trial — are answered on the FAQ page.
