Live wave height, wind and water temp — plus an 8-day forecast scored 0–100 for every sport.
Photo: Olga Gairin / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Today at Praia do Vao: Good for surfing — 67/100 for beginner level. Wind 6 kn SE · Waves 0.5 m, 15 s · Tide -1.0 to 0.3 m. Best window around 04:00 UTC. Today's conditions at Praia do Vao: 0.4m waves with light cross-shore wind. Kite Foiling looks Excellent in the afternoon, with E-Foiling also worth considering. Water temperature is 16°C / 60°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 do Vao faces S. Which swells reach it — and therefore whether there is anything worth riding — depends on that aspect more than on the open-ocean forecast height.
Today's wind is cross-shore at 6 kn. Straight cross-shore sits between the two for surfing — the face stays rideable but the wall is less organised than on a clean offshore.
Over the published window Praia do Vao clears 60/100 for surfing at Beginner level — that is who this spot is for on this sport. Today, 0 of 11 daylight hours clear that line at Intermediate.
Among the 31 scored spots within reach today, Praia do Vao ranks 21st for 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 small, low-traffic sandy cove on a ría-facing shore beside a historic tidal mill, with calm, sheltered water suited to swimming, kayaking, and snorkelling rather than surf or kite. No lifeguard service is documented; a larger lifeguarded, Blue Flag beach lies about 1 km away. A nearby Atlantic-facing beach sees kitesurf and wingfoil activity in autumn, winter, and spring, but summer wind is insufficient for kite. Low tide gives the most beach width.
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Wind at Praia do Vao today: 6 kn SE (gusting 19 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 Praia do Vao today: 0.5 m, 15 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 Praia do Vao today is around 01:00 UTC, when conditions score 45/100 for intermediate level. Conditions can shift by the hour — the 4Shor app shows the full 24-hour score chart.
For beginners, Praia do Vao scores 83/100 today for kite foiling — 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.
Praia do Vao 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 do Vao is a coastal location near As Aceñas 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 Praia do Vao, 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.
