Terms and Disclaimer

The short version

Cal Coast Tides is a free reference that gathers public tide, ocean and weather data and explains it in plain English. It is not an official forecast, warning or navigation service. Before you go on or near the water, and whenever weather is dangerous, check the official government sources below and follow your local emergency officials. In an emergency, call 911. On the water, call the U.S. Coast Guard on VHF channel 16.

Not for navigation or safety decisions

Nothing on this site is an official forecast, watch, warning or advisory, and none of it replaces official charts, Notices to Mariners or a weather briefing. Don't rely on it alone for navigation, for decisions where someone could be hurt, or for protecting property. Surf, rip currents, sneaker waves, tides and weather can change faster than any website updates.

Official sources

For decisions that matter, use these government sources:

• National Weather Service. Official forecasts, watches, warnings and advisories, including high surf, coastal flood and rip current alerts.
• National Hurricane Center. Official tropical storm and hurricane advisories, tracks and watches for the eastern Pacific.
• NOAA Tides & Currents. Official tide predictions and water levels for each station.
• NOAA National Data Buoy Center. Offshore buoy observations of waves, wind and water temperature.
• NOAA nautical charts. Official charts for navigation.
• U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Center. Local Notices to Mariners and navigation safety information.
• California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES). State emergency information and links to county alert sign-ups.
• Ready.gov. Federal guidance on preparing for storms, floods and other emergencies.

Your county also runs emergency alerts. Sign up through your county's office of emergency services, linked from Cal OES.

Where our data comes from, and its limits

• Tide predictions come from NOAA. They cover the astronomical tide only. Storms, swell, wind, pressure and seasonal effects such as El Niño can push the water well above or below them.
• Water levels and buoy readings come from NOAA and the National Data Buoy Center. They are often preliminary, can be delayed or missing, and sensors fail.
• Swell, wind and weather forecasts come from computer models (Open-Meteo). Forecasts carry uncertainty that grows with time, and models can miss local effects.
• Our own calculations (activity ratings, best windows, surf heights and grades, swell arrival windows) are estimates built on that data, and they can be wrong.

Any source can go down. When it does, parts of the site may show old data or nothing at all.

Journal posts about storms and current events

Posts about storms, swells and other hazards summarize official forecasts at the time they were written. Each says when that was. They are not updated as forecasts change, and they are not official guidance. Always check the issuing agency for the latest. Field reports and guides describe conditions on particular days and may not match what you find.

Use at your own risk

The site and everything on it are provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including accuracy, completeness, timeliness or fitness for a particular purpose. You are responsible for your own safety and decisions on and near the water. To the fullest extent the law allows, Cal Coast Tides and its operators are not liable for any loss, injury or damage arising from your use of, or reliance on, the site.

Other sites and photos

Links to other sites are for convenience. We don't control them and aren't responsible for their content. Photos and satellite images are credited on the page where they appear and belong to their owners, or are in the public domain when they come from a U.S. government agency.

Changes and contact

We may update these terms and will change the date above when we do. Using the site means you accept the current version. Questions or corrections: use the contact page. Our Privacy Policy explains what data we collect.