5/30/23 Report - Beach Conditions Forecasting Resources and Terminology. Crime at the Beach.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the excusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.

This Morning's Chart Snipped From Windy.com.

As you probably know, I've been searching for a good replacement for the MagicSeaWeed surf charts that I used for so many years.  Above you see a chart from Windy.com.  It provides a lot of good information that can be useful for the beach detectorist, but you might not find it as easy to grasp in a quick glance as the old MagicSeaWeed charts.  The information is there though.  Top to bottom, there is the time of day, wind, wind gusts, waves, swell and swell period.  And it goes out another day or two.  I cut it a little short when I snipped it.  As you can see, this morning the wind is not as strong, from the northeast, and the seas are only around two feet.

I used the old MSW charts so long, I knew not only how the chart translated to what I saw at the beaches, but also what errors the model was likely to make.  

Windy.com not only provides more than the little snippet you see above.  Below is another part of the same display.

Snippet Showing Primary and Secondary Swell at Vero.

So the primary swell is hitting the beach almost directly.  Only a very slight northerly angle.

I didn't like making the change, but being forced to change is sometimes a good thing.  I'm sure the time I spend studying the new charts will eventually result in even better beach metal detecting conditions predictions.

The tide charts are also there.  

Tide Information From Windy.com.

Although the information is there, it is not in such a quick and easy form.  I'm continuing to investigate various resources for the information I most want.  

By the way, as I go from one site to another, I've noticed that there does not seem to be complete agreement.  The information is gathered and presented differently by different sites.  The windy.com site uses and presents three models.  I only presented the display from one of those above.  I think it was the GFS model.  I don't expect the models to vary hugely.   When we start seeing tropical storms, it might be convenient to use a site like windy.com, which also shows the Atlantic wind and wave displays.

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You might not be totally familiar with all of the terminology.  I'll present some of that from time to time.  What is the difference between waves and swell, for example?

“Swell is best thought of as waves that have enough energy to travel well beyond the place of their origin. It marches in broader lines and with bigger gaps between each crest.”

• Primary swell is the wave generated due to distant pressure variations usually 1000 miles away. Primary swell travel over very long distances without losing energy due to difference in pressure and primary swell is called ground swell if swell energy can extend down until a 1000 ft deep. This allows better interaction with ocean floor when ground swell moves into shallow water and ground swell will be having longer period suitable for surfing.
• Secondary swell/swell 2 is wave generated due to another distant pressure variation system usually less significant than primary swell. Tertiary swell is again wave created due to another pressure variation system but usually neglected because of very small wave height.
• Wind wave is wave generated due to local winds. They will be usually having less than 10s of wave period, travel very short distance. Wind waves can be treacherous/choppy for smaller boats due to shorter wave period.

We use a lot of terms that can be easily confused, such as waves, swell, seas, and surf.  And there is a difference between the marine forecasts and surfing forecasts.  The surfing forecasts seem to be more about nearshore conditions, which is why they are more relevant and helpful for the detectorist than some marine forecasts.

From time to time I'll add some additional terminology and explanation and try to make it more clear and easy to understand.

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Remember when you had to worry about sunburn or jellyfish when you went to the beach.  Both of those got me at one time or another, but those are minor concerns compared to what you have to be concerned about these days.  Yesterday (Memorial Day) there was a shooting at the very popular Broadwalk of Hollywood Beach, and at least nine people were shot, according to the news on twitter.  CNN and many of the other news outlets haven't said a word about it, perhaps because it wasn't a white supremacist that did the shooting.  I thought they would be rushing to blame it on the lack of gun control in Florida, but they have to be careful about how they present this story, if they do at all.  I suspect they'll try to make it about gun control and DeSantis, despite the fact there were shootings at beaches in blue states as well.

I spent a lot of  time metal detecting at  Hollywood Beach back a few decades ago.  It was then a place where many Canadians would spend the winter and many local youth would gather.  I've told some of my metal detecting memories from there in previous posts.  You could usually find some jewelry at Hollywood Beach even if it wasn't the valuable kind that you'd find at Miami.  The gold was mostly 10K.  There were some class rings as well.

In the video of the shooting, I could see the bandshell, which is very near where I found my first ever metal detected silver ring.  

If there is a crime problem at your favorite beach, one thing you might do is go early in the morning and detect with a partner.  I often preferred sunrise hunts anyhow.  There are fewer people at the beaches, the water is more calm and it isn't quite as hot.  

The weekend shootings were not only in Florida.  There were two shootings at Revere Beach over the holidays, for example.  Revere Beach is in Massachusetts.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net