Wave Period Maps
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Hi Windy, I love the app. I'm a keen surfer and trust it more than Surfline. However, Surfline does have some great swell period maps. (see below) They are great for tracking the long-distance swell events that generate the best type of surf. Long-period waves are much better to ride than short-period waves. But these long-period waves are often challenging to see on the windy app, as they will be shown in swell 3. Is there any way of mapping the swell period in windy? I think it's using the WAM model. I don't understand how surfline does it, but it's fantastic and keeps me subscribed to them. A lot of surfers I know have started to use windy and I'm sure they would find this very useful.
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@isaackendall
Hi, a wave period layer would be surely interesting for surfers and also for other users as the longer period waves are those releasing the more energy (with consequent effects on seashore…).
Actually the period of each wave layers (Waves, Swell, Swell 2 and Swell 3) is shown by the picker at point forecast. So the data is available to make a new layer.
I don’t understand why you say that “long period waves …. will be shown in swell 3”.
Swell 3 does not show the longest periods and there is no relation between significant height and period (swell ranking - 1,2,3 - is based on their significant height)
I'm not a surfer :), shouldn't we take into account the Swell period (the main swell)? -
Thanks so much for your reply, @idefix37; my comment should have been more explicit.
Windy does indeed show the period, but I think the Surfline UI shows a long period swell clearer. Below you can see a comparison between Windy and Surfline. The red bands on the Surfline UI (right) indicate a long period swell traveling North East, but clicking through each Swell and Wave layer makes it hard to see this long period swell. The Usefulness of Surflines's map is that I can see if any long-period swells are traveling toward me with a glance. But with Windy, it's much harder to find them.
This is useful for me, as some surf spots will perform much better with a long period swell. For example, a 0.5m 15sec swell might be overshadowed by larger short-period swells unless I click through the different swells, and even then, I might miss it. But with Surfline's Chart, it is clear that there is a long period swell in action.
Hopefully, that makes my point clear.
Oh yes, I've clicked the GFS model on Windy, as Surfline uses that model. (I think)
Waves
Swell
Swell two
Swellthree3
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@isaackendall
Sorry, I do not understand what you want to demonstrate with your screenshots. If you want to enlighten that the different Windy screenshots don’t show the long period areas, this is quite obvious as they show the wave heights.In my previous post I have agreed that “ a wave period layer would be surely interesting for surfers“. So I perfectly understood your concern about it and all the benefits to have a wave period layer (or a map if you prefer).
My question was: why did you associate long period with Swell 3 ?
Finally should Windy show a Swell period layer or a Wave period layer? I think a Swell period layer should be more relevant, but I’m not a surf specialist. On Surfline they call it Wave period.
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Hi Issac.
I have been searching the forum for this as I have the same request.
I would also like to see a map layer for wave period, or perhaps two layers; one for significant wave period (Ts) and one for max wave period (Tmax), so that we can differentiate between sea and swell.
If you could push this to the developers it would be a great help.
Many thanks,
Michael.
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Swell period would be the most useful to show.
Also, note that Surfline use's their own Wave Models, so forecasts may differ slightly from those shown by the models on Windy.
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Surfer here as well ;-).
Yes please, swell period layers (for all 3 swells) would be fantastic and really useful.
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Currently, the Windy app does not have a specific map for swell period, but you can get an idea of the swell period by looking at the swell direction and size. The WAM model used by Windy provides information on swell size and direction, which can be used to estimate the swell period.
However, I understand that having a dedicated swell period map would be helpful for surfers, and I will certainly pass your suggestion along to our development team for consideration in future updates to the app. -
Hi Thomas. That would be excellent, and a lot of help to many of us. I look forward to seeing and using this feature, in a not too long away update! Thanks.
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Great to see there is some interest in having Significant Wave Period and Peak Period displayed on Windy!
These are the most useful for surfers and better than mean period fields.
They allow the user to much more clearly distinguish between swells and track them over distances.In the ECMWF paramater list I can see ( https://codes.ecmwf.int/grib/param-db/ ) "Swell Peak Period" and "Wave Peak Period", the former being more useful
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@MDason said in Wave Period Maps:
mean
@idefix37. This suggestion from @MDason is a great idea. Could these two wave period data be added to the spot picker in place of the swell period that is currently shown?
The wave period maps would be great too, but perhaps the tabular data could be implemented much sooner and easier.
Many thanks again.
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@O-C
Personally I doubt that many Windy users will be able to understand these 2 parameters. The original question was about a swell period layer. -
Pushing this old request up again.
Any update on implementing a wave period layer? Should be easy enough, the data is already there, it only has to be visualised in a map overlay?
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Oh, I'm glad to see my original post got some attention. Pushing it up for the Dev's attention again. ;-) I am happy to try and explain more about what exactly we surfers are looking for. It seems from the comments above I'm not the only one.
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I idefix37 referenced this topic on
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Pushing this thread again, still waiting on those wave period layers.
They would be so great to have, any update?
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Hi. There are a lot of different posts on here from surfers all with the same type of requests.
Here is one I suggested in a separate post as I couldn't add it into this one.
https://community.windy.com/topic/39756/better-presentation-of-wave-data?_=1747064073658
@Suty - could you please check out my post, and this one, and push this to the developers. I was looking into creating a Windy Plugin, and the information we would like to see is in the ECMWS model ready to add.
We would all be very grateful :-)
If you have upcoming plans to enhance the wave information please let us know so we can stop hounding you!
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@O-C I will keep the suggestion for upcoming plans, for now there is no plan to handle that, but it can be added in future.
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@Suty - thank you for the update.
