NOAA GFS

The NOAA Global Forecast System (GFS) is a numerical weather prediction model run four times a day by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It produces global forecasts of atmospheric conditions and, critically for surfers, ocean wave fields out to about 16 days. Swell Intel ingests GFS wave model output every cycle and runs it through our bathymetry engine to produce breaking wave height forecasts for every spot. Because the GFS runs at fixed cycles (00z, 06z, 12z, 18z UTC), forecasts refresh several times per day and should be checked at least once before any session.