Live wave height, wind and water temp — plus an 8-day forecast scored 0–100 for every sport.
Photo: Dean Molyneaux / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Today at West Strand Beach: Excellent for kite surfing — 89/100 for expert level. Wind 12 kn SE · Waves 1.5 m, 14 s · Tide -0.7 to -0.1 m. Best window around 20:00 UTC. Today's conditions at West Strand Beach: 1.3m waves with moderate cross-shore wind. Surfing looks Excellent in the afternoon, with Wing Foiling also worth considering. Water temperature is 14°C / 57°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.
West Strand Beach faces W, open to the prevailing westerlies, so the wind arrives off the water rather than filtered through the land — the clean, steady flow kite surfing wants, and the reason gusts here are sea breezes rather than land turbulence.
Today's wind is cross-shore at 12 kn. Straight cross-shore is the classic kite surfing direction: it lets you hold a line along the beach rather than fighting to get back to it.
Over the published window West Strand Beach clears 60/100 for kite surfing at every ability from Beginner to Expert — an unusually broad spot, which normally means a range of conditions rather than one narrow sweet spot. Today, 6 of 9 daylight hours clear that line at Intermediate.
Among the 31 scored spots within reach today, West Strand Beach is the best of them for kite surfing — so if you are travelling for it, this is the one.
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 wide, Blue Flag sandy beach in Portrush town, sheltered to the east by the harbour and promenade, facing west into Atlantic swells. The sandy beach break offers lefts and rights at all tides, suiting all levels, while a left-hand reef at the west corner works best at mid-to-high tide for experienced surfers. Also used for kitesurfing, windsurfing and paddleboarding. RNLI lifeguards patrol daily in July-August. Summer surf is often flat.
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Wind at West Strand Beach today: 12 kn SE (gusting 25 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 West Strand Beach today: 1.5 m, 14 s period from NW, hollow 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 West Strand Beach today is around 00:00 UTC, when conditions score 82/100 for intermediate level. Conditions can shift by the hour — the 4Shor app shows the full 24-hour score chart.
For beginners, West Strand Beach scores 82/100 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.
West Strand Beach 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.
West Strand Beach is a coastal location near Portrush in United Kingdom. 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 West Strand Beach, 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.
