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(Previous) 09/16/2005 (Next)
LOLA Buoys: Showcasing the SW Swell.
See the red line? The red line that hits nearly 4.5-feet on Friday? That is what a pumping SW swell looks like on the LOLA buoys.
Continued below...
Yes the swell is pumping, thanks for stating the obvious, why should I care?

Well the answer to that is pretty obvious if you think about it. Follow that red line back a couple of days into Wednesday…see how it just starts to creep up. If you look below to that column of colored numbers just below the surf heights you can see that this swell started showing Wednesday night with swell periods in the 25-second range. Now if I was just looking at the NOAA site, CDIP, or even listening to the buoys on the weather radio I wouldn't have even known that swell was in the water. By looking at LOLA I could have gotten a jump on most people and been down in Baja scoring silly surf somewhere. In fact I would be there right now if the other forecasters hadn't chained me to my desk and then bailed down to score for themselves.

Like what you see here? Want to get this type of detailed forecast information on a daily basis, for every major surf region on earth? Then SIGN UP NOW for a Surfline Premium Membership. (First month's free.)

WHAT IS LOLA?

LOLA is the world's only automated global surf forecasting tool. LOLA can forecast waves right down the street, or it can predict surf conditions at the top spots around the globe - breaks like Tavarua, Tahiti and Jeffrey's Bay.

LOLA uses the NOAA Wavewatch III engine (running on our own computers) with Surfline-modified data from various wind models (AVN, GFS, MRF). Then LOLA combines this information with empirical data we've programmed into her gained from over 30 years of surf and weather analysis here at Surfline.

LOLA also gathers real-time data from offshore buoys to measure wave pulses from storms around the world every hour. She taps into orbiting satellites to measure hurricane-force winds and tremendous wave heights in the heart of raging storms when huge ships are running for cover. She computes near-shore wave animations measuring detailed wave heights along the coast, taking into account how swells are distorted by offshore islands and the continental shelf.

When you add it all up, LOLA is the ultimate forecasting tool for surfers looking for timely, accurate and comprehensive information about waves.

Initially, we created LOLA as a proprietary tool for Surfline forecasters. But we decided to share the knowledge and give Surfline's Premium Members the chance to use LOLA themselves, to give them the best chance to score more good surf more often.

Not a Premium Member? Then CLICK HERE for a free LOLA demo.

If you are already a Premium Member, please proceed straight to the LOLA home page.