Live wave height, wind and water temp — plus an 8-day forecast scored 0–100 for every sport.
Photo: David P Howard / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Today at Saunton Sands: Good for swimming — 76/100 for expert level. Wind 9 kn E · Tide -1.8 to 0.8 m. Best window around 05:00 UTC. Today's conditions at Saunton Sands: 0.4m waves with moderate offshore wind. Surfing looks Excellent 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.
Saunton Sands faces W, 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 9 kn. Blowing off the land keeps the surface flatter near the beach for swimming, but it also pushes you out — stay inside where you can comfortably get back.
Over the published window Saunton Sands clears 60/100 for swimming at Intermediate, Advanced, Expert levels — that is who this spot is for on this sport. Today, 0 of 10 daylight hours clear that line at Intermediate.
Among the 31 scored spots within reach today, Saunton Sands ranks 19th 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 sweeping 3-mile west-facing sandy beach backed by the Braunton Burrows dunes, with a gently sloping bottom producing long, gentle left and right-handers favoured by longboarders, beginners and paddleboarders. The main hazard is rip currents; swimming is not advised near the southern river estuaries. No permanent lifeguard patrol, though a volunteer surf life saving club covers busy weekends. Entry and exit are via the main slipway at the north end.
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Get the free Saunton Sands widgetToday's conditions for Saunton Sands 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 Saunton Sands today: 9 kn E (gusting 23 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 Saunton Sands today: 0.5 m, 13 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 swimming at Saunton Sands today is around 05:00 UTC, when conditions score 65/100 for intermediate level. Conditions can shift by the hour — the 4Shor app shows the full 24-hour score chart.
For beginners, Saunton Sands scores 91/100 today for surfing — Epic!. 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.
Saunton Sands 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.
Saunton Sands is a coastal location near Saunton 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 Saunton Sands, 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.
