Florida Gulf Coast · Wednesday, Sep 23

Panama City Beach

NWS TAE · FLZ112; official reef-face range: 1–1 ft

Updated Tue, Sep 22, 7:20 PM CDT

When to go

Around 11:00 AM

Looks good · Low confidence

0.5–0.5 ft · Offshore waves · not face height

Wind: 7.0 kt · offshore

Forecast details

Wind blowing out to sea should help the waves stay clean.

Other wind windows

Plan around the wind

The best available upcoming daylight wind sample to compare with the wave evidence. This compares wind only; wave size, tide suitability, and hazards can change your choice.

11:00 AM–1:00 PM · America/Chicago
Moderate offshore wind · up to 7.0 kt · reported gusts up to 10.1 kt
Offshore waves: 0.5–0.5 ft across the period. Surf height unavailable. Tide data available; check the local tide response.
Wind source time: Sep 22, 6:45 PM CDT. This is not the model run issue time.

How these periods are chosen

The planner prefers three consecutive hourly samples covering two daylight hours, but retains shorter one- or two-sample evidence when that is all the forecast provides. Light wind means at most 6 kt. Moderate offshore means at most 12 kt from land toward the sea when shore orientation is verified. Strong wind or known gusts of 20 kt or more remain visible as cautions instead of making the entire comparison disappear. These are comparison labels, not locally tested surf-quality or safety ratings. Missing gusts remain unknown. Terrain shelter, currents, closures, and your ability are not assessed.

Forecast confidence

Returned marine grid point is 4.1 km from the mapped spot. Provider grid resolution is not established for this response.
Reference model hour: 12 hours from now; historical residuals do not measure forecast lead-time error.
No accepted local model for these inputs: missing history, unsupported direction/period/height, or failed historical validation.
A mapped coordinate does not establish nearshore grid resolution or terrain/shelter accuracy.

Wind ENE 5.4 kt

Tide 1.5 ft near high

Wave, wind and tide details

Offshore model swellSSE 0.3 ft @ 4sValid 2026-09-23 08:00 · America/ChicagoMarine grid 30.1250, -85.7917 · offshore model, not a local measurement

Offshore model sea0.5 ft @ 4.6sSignificant wave height including wind waves and swell; not breaking surfValid 2026-09-23 08:00 · America/Chicago

Model windENE 5.4 ktcross-shoreValid 2026-09-23 08:00 · America/Chicago2.4 kt offshore component

Tide1.5 ftnear highNOAA Panama City 8729108 · 11.2 km from Panama City Beach · predicted height relative to MLLWRetrieved Sep 22, 7:27 PM CDT · provider issue time unavailable97% of adjacent local low–high range · descriptive, not a safety rating

NWS TAE · FLZ112

Rip Current Risk............Moderate. Surf Height.................Around 1 foot. Weather.....................Sunny. A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. High Temperature............Around 90. Max Heat Index..............Up to 106. Winds.......................East winds 5 to 10 mph. Tides... Panama City..............High at 08:29 AM CDT. Low at 05:27 PM CDT. Sunrise.....................6:31 AM. Sunset......................6:40 PM.

WEDNESDAYOfficial breaking-surf height for Coastal Bay; forecast-zone range, not a calibrated break transformationIssued Sep 22, 11:06 AM CDT

Surf height unavailable. Coastal and offshore waves are not breaking-wave heights.

Surf and wind

Recommended window: No recommended window

Breaking surf is not reliably resolved. Hourly offshore swell and wind inputs are listed below.

Hourly forecast

Hourly surf forecast for Panama City Beach
Time	Wind	Tide	Offshore swell
12 AM	NE 3.1 ktoffshore	1 ftrising	SSE 0.4 ft @ 3s
1 AM	NE 3.7 ktoffshore	1 ftrising	SSE 0.4 ft @ 4s
2 AM	N 5.1 ktoffshore	1 ftrising	SSE 0.4 ft @ 4s
3 AM	NE 4.9 ktoffshore	1 ftrising	SSE 0.3 ft @ 4s
4 AM	NNE 5.2 ktoffshore	1.5 ftrising	SSE 0.3 ft @ 4s
5 AM	NNE 5.1 ktoffshore	1.5 ftrising	SSE 0.3 ft @ 3s
6 AM	NE 5.9 ktoffshore	1.5 ftrising	SSE 0.3 ft @ 3s
7 AM	ENE 5.6 ktcross-shore	1.5 ftnear high	SSE 0.3 ft @ 4s
8 AM	ENE 5.4 ktcross-shore	1.5 ftnear high	SSE 0.3 ft @ 4s
9 AM	NE 6.1 ktcross-shore	1.5 ftfalling	S 0.3 ft @ 5s
10 AM	NE 6.3 ktcross-shore	1.5 ftfalling	S 0.3 ft @ 5s
11 AM	NE 7 ktoffshore	1.5 ftfalling	S 0.3 ft @ 5s
Noon	NE 5.9 ktoffshore	1 ftfalling	S 0.3 ft @ 5s
1 PM	NNE 6.2 ktoffshore	1 ftfalling	S 0.3 ft @ 5s
2 PM	NNE 7.1 ktoffshore	1 ftfalling	S 0.3 ft @ 5s
3 PM	NNE 7.7 ktoffshore	1 ftfalling	SSE 0.3 ft @ 4s
4 PM	NNE 7.3 ktoffshore	1 ftfalling	SSE 0.3 ft @ 3s
5 PM	NNE 6.4 ktoffshore	0.5 ftnear low	SSE 0.3 ft @ 3s
6 PM	NNE 5.4 ktoffshore	0.5 ftrising	SE 0.3 ft @ 3s
7 PM	NE 5 ktoffshore	0.5 ftrising	SE 0.3 ft @ 3s
8 PM	ENE 3.4 ktcross-shore	1 ftrising	SE 0.3 ft @ 3s
9 PM	SE 3.4 ktcross-shore	1 ftrising	SE 0.3 ft @ 3s
10 PM	E 3.5 ktcross-shore	1 ftrising	SE 0.3 ft @ 3s
11 PM	E 4.5 ktcross-shore	1 ftrising	SE 0.3 ft @ 3s

12 AMUnavailable

WindNE 3.1 ktoffshoreTide1 ftrisingOffshore swellSSE 0.4 ft @ 3s

1 AMUnavailable

WindNE 3.7 ktoffshoreTide1 ftrisingOffshore swellSSE 0.4 ft @ 4s

2 AMUnavailable

WindN 5.1 ktoffshoreTide1 ftrisingOffshore swellSSE 0.4 ft @ 4s

3 AMUnavailable

WindNE 4.9 ktoffshoreTide1 ftrisingOffshore swellSSE 0.3 ft @ 4s

4 AMUnavailable

WindNNE 5.2 ktoffshoreTide1.5 ftrisingOffshore swellSSE 0.3 ft @ 4s

5 AMUnavailable

WindNNE 5.1 ktoffshoreTide1.5 ftrisingOffshore swellSSE 0.3 ft @ 3s

6 AMUnavailable

WindNE 5.9 ktoffshoreTide1.5 ftrisingOffshore swellSSE 0.3 ft @ 3s

7 AMUnavailable

WindENE 5.6 ktcross-shoreTide1.5 ftnear highOffshore swellSSE 0.3 ft @ 4s

8 AMUnavailable

WindENE 5.4 ktcross-shoreTide1.5 ftnear highOffshore swellSSE 0.3 ft @ 4s

9 AMUnavailable

WindNE 6.1 ktcross-shoreTide1.5 ftfallingOffshore swellS 0.3 ft @ 5s

10 AMUnavailable

WindNE 6.3 ktcross-shoreTide1.5 ftfallingOffshore swellS 0.3 ft @ 5s

11 AMUnavailable

WindNE 7 ktoffshoreTide1.5 ftfallingOffshore swellS 0.3 ft @ 5s

NoonUnavailable

WindNE 5.9 ktoffshoreTide1 ftfallingOffshore swellS 0.3 ft @ 5s

1 PMUnavailable

WindNNE 6.2 ktoffshoreTide1 ftfallingOffshore swellS 0.3 ft @ 5s

2 PMUnavailable

WindNNE 7.1 ktoffshoreTide1 ftfallingOffshore swellS 0.3 ft @ 5s

3 PMUnavailable

WindNNE 7.7 ktoffshoreTide1 ftfallingOffshore swellSSE 0.3 ft @ 4s

4 PMUnavailable

WindNNE 7.3 ktoffshoreTide1 ftfallingOffshore swellSSE 0.3 ft @ 3s

5 PMUnavailable

WindNNE 6.4 ktoffshoreTide0.5 ftnear lowOffshore swellSSE 0.3 ft @ 3s

6 PMUnavailable

WindNNE 5.4 ktoffshoreTide0.5 ftrisingOffshore swellSE 0.3 ft @ 3s

7 PMUnavailable

WindNE 5 ktoffshoreTide0.5 ftrisingOffshore swellSE 0.3 ft @ 3s

8 PMUnavailable

WindENE 3.4 ktcross-shoreTide1 ftrisingOffshore swellSE 0.3 ft @ 3s

9 PMUnavailable

WindSE 3.4 ktcross-shoreTide1 ftrisingOffshore swellSE 0.3 ft @ 3s

10 PMUnavailable

WindE 3.5 ktcross-shoreTide1 ftrisingOffshore swellSE 0.3 ft @ 3s

11 PMUnavailable

WindE 4.5 ktcross-shoreTide1 ftrisingOffshore swellSE 0.3 ft @ 3s

Tide

NOAA Panama City 8729108 · 11.2 km from Panama City Beach · MLLW

Interpolated tide height Recommended window

About this spot

Model-grid forecast requested at the mapped coordinate; reef, headland, and nearshore transformations are unresolved. Beach break.

Mapped spot coordinate: 30.16, -85.78.

Mainland · Coast not verified · Ocean-facing bearing 180° · Location provenance

Model request point: Panama City Beach (30.16, -85.78). Model output times describe valid conditions; the provider does not expose the model run issue time in this response.

Forecast sources

Data coverage 4/4 sources

Source availability is not forecast accuracy. Where an empirical model passes historical testing, its error and interval coverage are shown above. Source count cannot increase that confidence.

Coverage tier A · US_GULF · spot-level model point

NWS TAE · FLZ112; official reef-face range1–1 ftCurrent · Sep 22, 11:06 AM CDT

NWS TAE · FLZ112
NWS TAE · FLZ112; Official breaking-surf height for Coastal Bay; forecast-zone range, not a calibrated break transformationCurrentSep 22, 11:06 AM CDT
NOAA NDBC real-time station files
Current buoy observations are not forecasts for the selected future date.Not applicableNo source time
NOAA CO-OPS Tides and Currents API
NOAA Panama City 8729108 · 11.2 km from Panama City Beach; predicted high/low events above MLLW, converted to feet. Timestamp is retrieval time; provider issue time is not supplied.CurrentSep 22, 7:27 PM CDT
Open-Meteo Marine API
1 of 1 configured model points availableCurrentSep 22, 6:45 PM CDT
Open-Meteo Weather API
1 of 1 configured model points availableCurrentSep 22, 6:45 PM CDT
Surf-Forecast public pages
Spot discovery and break-specific HTML fallbackNot applicableNo source time
Surfline public spot pages
Break-specific comparison, cams, and metadataNot applicableNo source time

How best guesses are made

Best guesses combine usable wave and wind evidence, with qualitative confidence and specific limitations. A missing tide or local surf-height model does not prevent useful guidance. Tide levels use the named station datum; their effect at this break remains uncertain. Wind direction is relative to the mapped beach orientation, without calibrated terrain or shelter effects. The comparison is a heuristic, not a measured quality rating.