Live wave height, wind and water temp — plus an 8-day forecast scored 0–100 for every sport.
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Today at Praia da Califórnia: Excellent for kite surfing — 82/100 for advanced level. Wind 8 kn NW · Waves 1.1 m, 14 s · Tide -0.9 to 0.2 m. Best window around 15:00 UTC. Today's conditions at Praia da Califórnia: 0.9m waves with moderate offshore wind. Kite Foiling looks Epic! in the midday, with Wing Foiling also worth considering. Water temperature is 18°C / 64°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.
Praia da Califórnia faces S, and that aspect decides whether the day's wind arrives clean off the water or broken up by the land — which matters more for kite surfing than the forecast speed alone.
Today's wind is cross-offshore at 8 kn. Leaning offshore, so a failure drifts you away from the beach rather than back to it — rideable for kite surfing, but not the direction to push your luck in.
Over the published window Praia da Califórnia clears 60/100 for kite surfing at Intermediate, Advanced, Expert levels — that is who this spot is for on this sport. Today, 9 of 11 daylight hours clear that line at Intermediate.
Among the 31 scored spots within reach today, Praia da Califórnia ranks 5th for kite surfing. The order changes by discipline: the same conditions that put a spot top for one sport can drop it down the list for another.
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.
A sheltered, SSW-facing sandy bay beach of about 1 km, separated from a neighbouring beach by a 17th-century fort. Calm, low-energy bay waters suit swimming and paddling rather than surf or wind sports; rocky formations bound the eastern section. Dogs, camping and caravanning are banned, within a protected natural park. Low-to-mid tide gives the widest sand, as the western strip narrows sharply at high tide. Lifeguards patrol 1 June-15 September.
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Get the free Praia da Califórnia widgetToday's conditions for Praia da Califórnia 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.
Wind at Praia da Califórnia today: 8 kn NW (gusting 23 kn). Wind direction relative to the shore affects kite 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 Praia da Califórnia today: 1.1 m, 14 s period from N, closing 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 kite surfing at Praia da Califórnia today is around 15:00 UTC, when conditions score 79/100 for intermediate level. Conditions can shift by the hour — the 4Shor app shows the full 24-hour score chart.
For beginners, Praia da Califórnia scores 94/100 today for surfing — Epic!. 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.
Praia da Califórnia 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.
Praia da Califórnia is a coastal location near Sesimbra in Portugal. 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 Praia da Califórnia, 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.
