Ebb vs swell at 35 Florida inlets and passes, with NWS advisories and buoys.
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Know what the inlet is doing before you get there.
The most dangerous inlet conditions come from an outgoing tide running against waves from the ocean: the ebb shortens and steepens the waves until they stand up and break on the bar. Florida Inlet Watch computes that, hour by hour, for 35 inlets and passes all around Florida — Atlantic coast, Biscayne Bay and the Keys, and the Gulf coast — and puts the official National Weather Service advisories right next to it.
TRY PRO FREE FOR 7 DAYS
Everything below, free for a week. Official NWS advisories stay free for everyone.
LIVE — $2.99 A YEAR
• Current index for all 35 inlets: Lower risk, Caution, Hazardous or Extreme, with the reasons in plain words
• Live NOAA buoys (swell and wind waves, period, direction) and live winds from coastal stations and airports
• Today's tides, and today's slack and maximum ebb and flood where NOAA publishes current predictions
• Inlet map on the official NOAA nautical chart: wind barbs, wave crests with height and period, and the current running through the inlet, right now
PRO — $29.99 A YEAR, AFTER THE 7-DAY FREE TRIAL
• Everything in Live
• Hour-by-hour index for the next 48 hours, every inlet
• The inlet map for any hour of the next 48: watch wind, waves and the ebb build up
• Ebb current, waves on the bar and wind, hour by hour
• Daylight hours with the lowest index
• Three days of tide and current times
35 INLETS AND PASSES
Atlantic: St. Marys Entrance, St. Johns River, St. Augustine, Ponce de Leon, Port Canaveral, Sebastian, Fort Pierce, St. Lucie, Jupiter, Lake Worth, Boynton, Boca Raton, Hillsboro, Port Everglades, Bakers Haulover and Government Cut.
Biscayne Bay and the Keys: Caesar Creek, Channel Five, Long Key Viaduct, Moser Channel (Seven Mile Bridge), Bahia Honda Channel and Key West Main Ship Channel.
Gulf coast: Gordon Pass, Captiva Pass, Boca Grande Pass, Gasparilla Pass, Venice Inlet, New Pass, Longboat Pass, Tampa Bay Entrance, Pass-a-Grille, Johns Pass, St. Andrew Bay Entrance, Destin East Pass and Pensacola Pass.
HOW IT WORKS
For each offshore wave train (wind sea and up to three swells, NOAA GFS-Wave), the app computes how the ebb steepens it on the bar, up to breaking, then adds wind against the ebb and inlet-specific guidance. It never shows a level below an official advisory in effect.
HONEST ABOUT ACCURACY
• 24 inlets and passes use NOAA's official current predictions, as published.
• The other eleven have no NOAA current station. Rather than guess, the app assumes the ebb may run over a wide window and tells you so: expect more "Hazardous" hours there.
• Wave forecasts are checked against NOAA buoys: when a nearby buoy measures bigger waves, the app raises the forecast, never lowers it.
• No "Lower risk" is shown if advisories or forecasts could not be refreshed: you see "Acquiring data" instead of an old level.
IMPORTANT
Florida Inlet Watch is not a navigation aid. "Lower risk" never means "safe". Sandbars move, sometimes overnight, and models miss squalls and local effects. Always look at the inlet yourself, check official forecasts and broadcasts, and make your own decision.
Independent app. Not affiliated with or endorsed by NOAA, the National Weather Service or the U.S. Coast Guard. Data: NOAA CO-OPS, NCEP (GFS, GFS-Wave), NWS, NDBC, Aviation Weather Center.
Both subscriptions are yearly and renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period (or of the free trial, which then converts to Pro); manage or cancel them in your account settings. Prices are in US dollars for the United States; elsewhere, as shown in the store.
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