Live wave height, wind and water temp — plus an 8-day forecast scored 0–100 for every sport.
Photo: Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0
Today at Praia Velha: Epic! for surfing — 97/100 for advanced level. Wind 11 kn S · Waves 2.3 m, 12 s · Tide -1.3 to 0.3 m. Best window around 22:00 UTC. Today's conditions at Praia Velha: 2.2m waves with moderate cross-shore wind. Surfing looks Epic! in the afternoon, with Kite Foiling also worth considering. Water temperature is 16°C / 61°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 Velha faces W, straight into the prevailing Atlantic swell window — the reason it has waves at all, and the reason it is rarely flat.
Today's wind is cross-shore at 11 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 Velha clears 60/100 for surfing at Intermediate, Advanced, Expert levels — that is who this spot is for on this sport. Today, 11 of 11 daylight hours clear that line at Intermediate.
Among the 31 scored spots within reach today, Praia Velha is level with one other at the top for surfing — nothing nearby is scoring better, so pick on distance.
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.
The southern section of a shifting-sandbank beach-break complex, facing west into northwest groundswell. Sandy throughout, with two flanking jetties — south for a consistent left, north for a consistent right — and waves from small to 2m-plus, best with easterly offshore wind. Rip and tidal currents require care; mid tide is the preferred entry/exit window. Lifeguards are on duty 13 June–15 September; Blue Flag certified.
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Get the free Praia Velha widgetToday's conditions for Praia Velha 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 Velha today: 11 kn S (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 Velha today: 2.3 m, 12 s period from NW, 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 Velha today is around 00:00 UTC, when conditions score 96/100 for intermediate level. Conditions can shift by the hour — the 4Shor app shows the full 24-hour score chart.
For beginners, Praia Velha scores 48/100 today for surfing — Okay. 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 Velha 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 Velha is a coastal location near Praia de Esmoriz 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 Velha, 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.
