SEC Coastal Conditions
A practical beach-day planner for surf, tides, rip-current risk, weather and coastal hazards from Virginia to Florida.
SEC Wave Report: live surf intelligence
See observed buoy wave height, period, swell direction, wind-wave breakdown, tides, rip risk and transparent SEC analysis for 12 Southeast Coast destinations.
Open Wave ReportLoading conditions…
Connecting to official public data.
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How the SEC Coastal Conditions score works
The score is designed to answer a travel-planning question, not replace a lifeguard, meteorologist or local emergency manager. Southeast Coast combines available National Weather Service beach-forecast fields—such as rip-current or swim risk, surf, water temperature, UV, weather and wind—with NWS point forecasts, active alerts and NOAA tide predictions. We then weight those inputs differently depending on whether you are planning a general beach day, surfing, a family outing, fishing or photography.
Why one score cannot tell you the ocean is safe
Rip currents can occur even when the published risk is low, thunderstorms can develop between forecast updates, and conditions around piers, jetties and inlets can be more hazardous than the broader zone. Missing data is displayed as missing data; Southeast Coast does not substitute invented conditions. When a High rip-current/swim-risk value or active hazard is returned, the tool flags it prominently rather than allowing a favorable temperature or wind value to hide the hazard.
Wave report methodology
SEC Coastal Conditions is designed to distinguish between observed, forecast and interpreted information. Observations can come from NOAA/NDBC marine stations; beach-zone forecasts come from the National Weather Service; tides come from NOAA CO-OPS. Southeast Coast interpretation should never be presented as an official warning or measurement.
The next data layer is built around surf-specific fields: significant wave height, dominant period, mean wave direction, primary and secondary swell when available, wind speed and direction, tide stage, water temperature, observation age and the distance from the reporting buoy to the selected beach. This lets the page explain not only “how big,” but also whether the energy is short-period local chop or longer-period swell and how fresh the underlying observation is.
Official data sources
Beach and surf-zone fields are supplied by the National Weather Service Marine Beach Forecast service when coverage exists. General forecast and alert data comes from the NWS API. Tide predictions are obtained from NOAA Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services. Coverage and update times vary by forecast office and station, so always follow the linked official products for the final decision.