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-SA 2.0
Today at Praia da Calheta beach: Poor for swimming — 34/100 for expert level. Wind 7 kn NE · Tide -0.8 to 0.4 m. Today's conditions at Praia da Calheta beach: 2.5m waves with light offshore wind. Kite Foiling looks Epic! in the morning, with Surfing also worth considering. Water temperature is 23°C / 74°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 Calheta beach faces SW, open to the prevailing swell and wind. For swimming that is the hard direction: expect the surface to be workable only when the forecast genuinely drops, not on an average day.
Today's wind is offshore at 7 kn. Light enough that the surface should stay workable for swimming.
Across the published window Praia da Calheta beach does not clear 60/100 for swimming at any ability — it peaks at 34/100, so this is a spot to watch rather than commit to right now. Today, 0 of 11 daylight hours clear that line at Intermediate.
Among the 29 scored spots within reach today, Praia da Calheta beach ranks 22nd for swimming. 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 purpose-built artificial beach on Madeira's south-west coast, enclosed by twin breakwaters that create a flat, sheltered lagoon — calm water suited to swimming, snorkelling, canoeing, kayaking, paddleboarding, and windsurfing rather than surf or kite, which are practised nearby at Jardim do Mar. Access is free; diving is prohibited except in designated areas. Lifeguards are present in the main bathing season, and the beach holds Blue Flag accreditation.
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Get the free Praia da Calheta beach widgetToday's conditions for Praia da Calheta 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 Praia da Calheta beach today: 7 kn NE (gusting 24 kn). Wind direction relative to the shore affects swimming 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 Calheta beach today: 2.5 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.
For beginners, Praia da Calheta beach scores 20/100 today for surfing — Don't Bother. 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 Calheta 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.
Praia da Calheta beach is a coastal location near Calheta 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 Calheta 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.
