Live wave height, wind and water temp — plus an 8-day forecast scored 0–100 for every sport.
Photo: PAUL FARMER / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Today at Saltdean Beach: Okay for surfing — 45/100 for beginner level. Wind 8 kn NE · Waves 0.5 m, 4 s · Tide -1.6 to 0.6 m. Best window around 04:00 UTC. Today's conditions at Saltdean Beach: 0.5m waves with light offshore wind. Kite Foiling looks Epic! in the midday, with E-Foiling also worth considering. Water temperature is 17°C / 63°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.
Saltdean Beach faces SW, 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 offshore at 8 kn. That is the direction you want for surfing — it holds the face up and clean instead of crumbling it.
Over the published window Saltdean Beach clears 60/100 for 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, 0 of 10 daylight hours clear that line at Intermediate.
Among the 31 scored spots within reach today, Saltdean Beach ranks 24th 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 sheltered, wide shingle beach beneath chalk cliffs, shelving gently to some sand at low tide, popular for summer swimming, snorkelling, and rock pooling. A chalk rock platform exposed at low tide is rutted and sharp underfoot, so entry/exit is best in the upper half of the tide. Not a recognised surf or kite spot. A seasonal dog ban covers the main section. RNLI lifeguards are on duty mid-July to September; otherwise call the Coastguard.
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Get the free Saltdean Beach widgetToday's conditions for Saltdean Beach 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 Saltdean Beach today: 8 kn NE (gusting 18 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 Saltdean Beach today: 0.5 m, 4 s period from SE, mushy character. 4Shor derives nearshore wave conditions from ECMWF IFS 9-km atmospheric data and the IBI regional ocean model, updated hourly.
For beginners, Saltdean Beach scores 69/100 today for kite foiling — Good. 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.
Saltdean 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.
Saltdean Beach is a coastal location near Rottingdean 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 Saltdean 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.
