Did you know that Windfinder also offers wave forecast for all surfers or other wave-addicts out there? In our forecast maps for the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean, you can see the swell trains coming in to your local spot. On the spot forecast pages (e.g. Peniche), you also find detailed information about the swell height, direction and period besides our usual wind and weather parameters.

If you are in North America, we can offer you additional wave forecast maps with a higher resolution, so you will be able to pick your surfing days even better!

Did you know that Windfinder has a very large directory of web- and surfcams with over 1700 entries? Using Google Maps, you can view your favorite spot from your computer at home and see for yourself if the conditions are good.

You can browse our webcam and surfcam directory from the top navigation point "webcams". If you have a webcam available at home pointing at your local surf spot or you think there is a cam missing in our directory, don't hesitate to add it!

Besides our wave forecast, Windfinder also offers wave reports from buoys around the world. You can find all buoys on our wave report maps, covering wide regions of the world, e.g. Southwest Europe, Northwest Europe, California, Hawaii, Florida and many other more.

On all detailed buoy wave reports (e.g. Hanstholm), you also have the possibility to view the past wave reports. Just select your preferred date from the "Past weather" - box in the left column.

Besides the normal way of opening a browser and pointing it to www.windfinder.com, there are also other ways to stay in touch with the wind while you are at your computer. If you have Firefox running, you perhaps already know about our Firefox extension Windfox, but we also have so-called "Widgets" or "Gadgets" available for almost any computer platform there is.

With every widget, you can view the current wind speed and the wind forecast for the next days. It updates frequently, so you can be sure to never miss the wind again. The widgets also can alarm you when the wind speed extends beyond a certain configurable threshold.

If you run Windows Vista, the Windfinder Gadget is available for your sidebar. For Mac OSX, the Widget sits in your Dashboard. If you have Windows XP or Linux, you must install Google Desktop first before installing our Google Gadget. And if you are using the Yahoo widget engine, we also have a widget available for that.

If you want to look at the general weather situation, isobar maps are the right tool to choose. You can see the pressure system distribution over a large area and you can also see the movement of the high and low pressure systems.

Windfinder also offers isobar maps. To access the maps, move your mouse over "forecasts" and then click on "isobars" in the menu below. Currently, we only offer isobar maps for Europe.

Have you noticed the wind forecast boxes below our wind report graphics (e.g. for El Medano)?

These are local wind and weather forecast offered by forecasters at the same or nearby spots, giving you short-term forecasts for the next 24-48 hours. If the wind report looks good and you want to go out kiting or surfing, also check the short-term forecast on the same page!

It is a great feeling to check the wind conditions even when you only have your mobile / cellphone (or PDA or Smartphone) with you. For example you can use www.windfinder.mobi, an optimized version of the Windfinder website especially for small screens. Of course these pages are also optimized for speed and small data transfer sizes.



Usage is simple: Grab your cellphone, open the browser and type the URL www.windfinder.mobi. If you want to test it first, you can try out windfinder.mobi using cellphone emulators on your normal PC for Opera Mini, Sony K750 or Nokia N70. More information and detailed usage instructions are available here. Besides your normal data transfer fees from your mobile provider, windfinder.mobi is free!

If you want to be updated about the current conditions or the wind forecast on your local spot even when you are nowhere near a computer, WindSMS is the right tool for you. With WindSMS, you can get wind information on your mobile via SMS / text messaging.



There are two options available: you can simply dial the WindSMS number for your preferred region and receive a text message afterwards or you can be alarmed when the wind speed exceeds a certain configurable threshold. With this option, you can be sure to never miss a good day of windsurfing, kitesurfing or sailing again!



WindSMS is available for over 50 regions worldwide. A list of regions as well as detailed instructions are available here.

Want to try WindSMS before you buy? Of course this is possible - you can test WindSMS three times for free! Just follow the instructions on our WindSMS description page!

If you frequently use our Search function to change between spots, it would be more convenient if you could do this from a fixed point in your browser. With Firefox and Internet Explorer 7 you can do this!




If you are on www.windfinder.com, you can add a search field specifically for Windfinder.com in the top right corner. The search results will then be presented to you on our website.

The Windfinder forecast as well as our Superforecast can also be printed! This is especially useful if you own or work at a surf school or surf station and want to keep everyone updated about the expected wind conditions. Or if you have a sports event, you can print out a forecast and inform the competitors. Or you can simply print out a great forecast and bring it to work or school to show off with the great wind conditions...

To access the print version, just go to your favorite Wind Forecast or Superforecast Page (e.g. Tarifa), then click on "Print Version" in the row above the forecast table. You will then be lead to a page specifically optimized for print output. On this page, simply use the print function of your browser or just hit Ctrl + P to print the page. We suggest that if you want to print a Superforecast, set the page format to landscape mode to get a better output although portrait mode should also work fine.

On the bottom left side of nearly every page on windfinder.com, you can find a litte button to add the current page to your favorites. This is especially useful if you use a social bookmarking service like Google Bookmarks, del.icio.us or Windows Live Favorites or if you want to add it to your profile on Facebook or MySpace. Just hover the mouse cursor over the "Add This" button, which will present you a menu to select your favorite bookmarking service.

There are some surfspots which depend on the tides. As this information is very important for your surf sessions, you can access the current tide calendar for your preferred surfspot on the left hand side of every Wind report, Wind forecast, Wind statistic or Superforecast page (e.g. Skt. Peter-Ording).


After clicking on the link "Tides", a menu will appear that shows you the nearest tide spots. Select your favorite tide station and you will come to a page that shows the tide prediction for the next three days (e.g. Süderhoft, Germany). There you can find the predicted times and heights for high and low tide.

All units on our Wind report, Wind forecast, Wind statistics and Superforecast pages for your surfspot (e.g. Leucate) can be configured to your needs.

You can find this menu on the left hand side of every Wind report, Wind forecast, Wind statistics and Superforecast page. After clicking on "Change units", a menu will appear where you can customize the measurement units to your preferrences. Customizable units are available for wind speed, temperature, wave height, precipitation and cloud cover.

When you are on the Wind report, Wind forecast, Wind statistic or Superforecast page of your preferred surfspot (e.g. Biarritz), you can get information about the nearest Webcams, Surfschools or -shops, Wind- and Kitesurfspots (in cooperation with kitebeaches.com) and tide spots.



You can find this menu on the left hand side on every Wind report, Wind forecast and Wind statistic page as well as on our new Superforecast pages. Just click on the category you are interested in (e.g. Webcams), and a menu will pop up to show you the nearest Webcams around. The view to your preferred surfspot is just one click away. 

Did you know that you can integrate our Wind Reports, Wind Statistics and Wind Forecast charts into your own website or blog? To get the code for this, simply go to the Report, Statistics or Forecast page of your preferred spot, e.g. Stavoren. On the bottom left side, you will see a link "Homepage weather" and "Wind report for your website". 

We want to introduce a new category in our blog / news section. With a big and feature-rich site like Windfinder.com, it is impossible to know every single feature of the website. In this series we will start to introduce some of the less known features of Windfinder.com.