Magic Seaweed is no more - What Alternatives are there?

[Trundlebug]

MagicSeaweed, My favourite App for weather forecasting and just as importantly, wave and swell prediction charts, has now sold out to a US surf App called Surfline.
I tried to register with Surfline to try it, but I soon lost the will to live.
Whereas MSW was useful for all sorts of people, Surfline is very VERY niche.
Questions like: "Which area do you like? Which surf beach do you like? - Pick 3 from the following" (all beaches with surf - not quite the same as ports, harbours or travelling through several areas of coastline) soon made it clear that what used to be a fantastic source of information has now been lost. And what's more, it's now a subscription only service.
So we now have to pay for irrelevant information if using Surfline.

Looking through my App store I couldn't really find any suitable alternatives which show the predicted swell height, on nice colourful animated charts the way MSW did.
There may be a couple of Apps claiming to offer similar but nothing rated very highly - ratings of one or two stars out of 5 doesn't inspire confidence!

Does anyone know of a suitable alternative? Preferably FOC?

 

[Supine Being]

Have you tried windy.com? You can select swell, or even secondary swell, from the menu on the right.

 

[Jon Stacey]

Surfline actually bought MSW in 2015 but I couldn't agree more. Windy is different but pretty good - you can change the model to look at wind, waves etc

 

[Trundlebug]

I'll give Windy a go, thanks for the recommendation.
I wondered if it was just a weather forecasting site (like dozens of others) but it's the swell charts I'm after, so glad to hear there might be something suitable.

 

[MoodySabre]

I use Winguru - it gives wave height and frequency. Mainly for coastal areas as it is windsurfer site.
Passageweather.com for offshore

 

[MontyMariner]

I use Winguru

Same here.

 

[Snowgoose-1]

I find VENTUSKY is quite good. Wave height, gusts etc

 

[Daverw]

Doesn’t PredictWind do wave/swell forecast?

 

[DipperToo]

I find VENTUSKY is quite good. Wave height, gusts etc

All the apps get interesting more than 3 days out with the different forecast models. Even within the same app, it is quite surprising at times the huge differences id wind, swell, direction etc. The closer you at to 24 hours ahead, they all seem to be roughly the same.

 

[Momac]

For the tides I use
Tide times and charts for Hull, England and weather forecast for fishing in Hull in 2023
Its free. `There is a wave height prediction on it which is not as good as I would like but I guess they all use the same source data.

And for weather
XCWeather Forecast


I have used
Weather services: Registration, subscription to METEO CONSULT services - Free 15-day Marine forecasts - METEO CONSULT MARINE
Which used to be free but is only 3 Euro for a fortnight for the most basic service which is probably good enough.

 

[Momac]

Windguru - United Kingdom - Skegness
Not bad

 

[franksingleton]

Boring, I know, but let me repeat that there is little to choose between apps. Their sources are the US GFS, DWD ICON/ICON-EU, ECMWF. For the first 4 or 5 days, differences between forecasts are usually within the uncertainty level of each other. If one fitters markedly from the others, then trust none. Most apps have computer forecasts of sea state. ECMWF should be the best for longer periods - up to 10 days. It is less useful for shorter periods being issued twice a day and later than the US and DWD.

I like to use apps that save the information for later viewing offline and for comparison with later forecasts.
I like the Windy comparison between models.

I bear in mind that limited area forecasts have limited value.

I would not pay for any forecast because there is no extra value.

Claims that one or another app is the best are usually based on personal likes/dislikes of presentation or on particular occasions. All National Weather Service models and computer use the same physical equations. All use the same data. All monitor output continually and seek to improve output. Every country knows about each other’s models through international cooperation, scientific and technical meetings.

For what it is worth, I mainly use PocketGrib on my iPad and XcWeather on the laptop. Sometimes, I use the Saildocs email service. That lets me load several models at the same time for viewing using PocketGrib and WeatherTrack on iPad and XcWeather on the laptop.

PS Mental aberration. I meant XyGrib not XCWeather.

 

[Snowgoose-1]

All the apps get interesting more than 3 days out with the different forecast models. Even within the same app, it is quite surprising at times the huge differences id wind, swell, direction etc. The closer you at to 24 hours ahead, they all seem to be roughly the same.

True.
We've never had it so good though. It's good that nature still gives us a kick up the rear now and then just to remind us who's in charge.
Adds to the adventure.

 

[franksingleton]

All models use many guesstimates to calculate the physical processes that drive the atmosphere. This means that no model can ever give a precise forecast. It is instructive to use Meteociel - Ensembles, modèles ensemblistes. Select one of several models. Select “Tableaux”. Select a location. Then select whichever parameter you wish. Start with Vent 10m.

You will get a table showing the values from an ensemble. This show the uncertainty. The values are in km/hour, roughly 2 km/hour = 1 knot.


The Windy.com comparison facility provides six models but these include AROME and UKV limited area models. Beyond 2 days, AROME is the ECMWF output. In effect, there are 5 models. In general, you will find that each model is within the ensemble range of the others.


In my opinion, there are two ways to use model output for the first 5 days.


First, you can take Windy as a small ensemble and use consistency between models to give an idea about reliability. DO NOT try to take a majority view. If there is an outlier, assume thst is an indication of greater than usual uncertainty. The outlier might be the best on the day.


Secondly, stick to whichever model you prefer or wish. Look at forecasts every 24 hours, perhaps every 12. Look for consistency from one run to the next. In the short term, say less than 3 days there will be consistency but, if not, then be aware that the forecast will be in some doubt. I look at output as far as 10 days. Again, I look at consistency between several runs to give guidance for planning ahead.

 

[Farmer Piles]

MagicSeaweed, My favourite App for weather forecasting and just as importantly, wave and swell prediction charts, has now sold out to a US surf App called Surfline.
I tried to register with Surfline to try it, but I soon lost the will to live.
Whereas MSW was useful for all sorts of people, Surfline is very VERY niche.
Questions like: "Which area do you like? Which surf beach do you like? - Pick 3 from the following" (all beaches with surf - not quite the same as ports, harbours or travelling through several areas of coastline) soon made it clear that what used to be a fantastic source of information has now been lost. And what's more, it's now a subscription only service.
So we now have to pay for irrelevant information if using Surfline.

Looking through my App store I couldn't really find any suitable alternatives which show the predicted swell height, on nice colourful animated charts the way MSW did.
There may be a couple of Apps claiming to offer similar but nothing rated very highly - ratings of one or two stars out of 5 doesn't inspire confidence!

Does anyone know of a suitable alternative? Preferably FOC?

Likewise; I surf as well as my boating and used it all the time. I too gave up the will to live when trying to register with the new owner of MSW, Surfline. I had put it down to being a 62 year old farmer using an iphone.

 

[Farmer Piles]

Huge amounts of the info comes from the US NOAA remote wave buoys and swell charts.

 

[franksingleton]

As ever there has been some thread drift. The OP was about Magic Seaweed and waves/swell. Some posts began referring to general weather apps. When I first looked at MSW some years ago, it looked a fairly useful app. It then changed and I found it not as useful as other apps for weather but good for local sea conditions. My posts above were aimed st the wider weather information. I do not know of any site that gives such detailed wave/swell info.

 

[mattonthesea]

All models use many guesstimates to calculate the physical processes that drive the atmosphere. This means that no model can ever give a precise forecast. It is instructive to use Meteociel - Ensembles, modèles ensemblistes. Select one of several models. Select “Tableaux”. Select a location. Then select whichever parameter you wish. Start with Vent 10m.

You will get a table showing the values from an ensemble. This show the uncertainty. The values are in km/hour, roughly 2 km/hour = 1 knot.


The Windy.com comparison facility provides six models but these include AROME and UKV limited area models. Beyond 2 days, AROME is the ECMWF output. In effect, there are 5 models. In general, you will find that each model is within the ensemble range of the others.


In my opinion, there are two ways to use model output for the first 5 days.


First, you can take Windy as a small ensemble and use consistency between models to give an idea about reliability. DO NOT try to take a majority view. If there is an outlier, assume thst is an indication of greater than usual uncertainty. The outlier might be the best on the day.


Secondly, stick to whichever model you prefer or wish. Look at forecasts every 24 hours, perhaps every 12. Look for consistency from one run to the next. In the short term, say less than 3 days there will be consistency but, if not, then be aware that the forecast will be in some doubt. I look at output as far as 10 days. Again, I look at consistency between several runs to give guidance for planning ahead.

I'm beginning to hate windy! We've been stuck in up to 40 kts in a marina at the north end of the gulf of Riga for four days and all the windy comparisons keep stretching out the wind abatement period. Looks like we may be here for a day longer.

I blame the messenger

 

[franksingleton]

AAMOI, has anyone used OpenSkiron - Wind-Wave If so, views?

 

[Farmer Piles]

Surfline bought MSW. It took some perseverance but I have the app working fine now. All the features of MSW but just not as familiar.