Waves helps you understand wave height, wave direction, and wave period for the selected Weather pin or route.
Use Waves to check how large the waves are expected to be, where they are moving, how frequently waves are arriving, and how conditions change over time.
What does it show?
The Waves tab shows forecast wave height, wave direction, and wave period for the selected location and selected time.
Map
The Waves map overlay shows the forecast visually for the selected area.
Shows the Waves forecast in Orca, including the wave-height heatmap, animated particles showing wave movement, and the weather chart displaying wave direction, height, and period over time.
It includes:
Wave height heatmap
Shows wave height on the chart. Stronger colours indicate higher waves. An expandable legend can be found in the bottom left hand corner.Animated wave particles
The Waves map also shows animated wave particles. These help show wave movement in the area. The direction of the particles shows which way the waves are moving, and the animation speed helps show wave intensity.Weather pin or location along a route
Marks the location the forecast is based on and shows the wave direction and wave height for the selected timeData source label
Appears in the bottom-right corner of the map
In some areas, especially outside the UK, you may see gaps between the shoreline and the Waves data on the map. This is because high-resolution wave coverage is not available equally close to shore in all regions.
If you see an error that says “Nothing to show here” and “Move the pin to a new location”, it is likely that you are looking to see waves in one of these near-shore locations.
Example of an area where wave forecast data is unavailable near the coast. Orca displays “Nothing to show here” and prompts the user to move the Weather pin to a new location.
Bottom sheet
The bottom sheet contains the Waves weather chart. This is where you can inspect wave height, direction, and period over time. You can scroll the chart horizontally to move through the forecast.
Shows the Waves forecast changing as the selected time moves through the forecast. The map, Weather pin, direction icons, wave height, and wave period update to correspond to the selected time.
Weather chart
The Waves weather chart shows:
Direction icons
Shows the forecast wave direction at each point in timeWave height line
Shows wave height values over time. Higher values indicate higher waves. The colour also corresponds to the heatmap legend on the map.Wave period line
Shows the wave period pattern over time. Wave period is the time between waves.Wave height values
The row marked Height followed by your chosen unit of length shows wave height values.Wave period values
The row marked Period followed by seconds shows wave period values
Together, these let you compare wave height, wave period, and direction for the selected Weather pin or Route across the forecast period.
The wave height and direction shown in the chart should correspond to the wave height and direction shown on the map for the Weather pin or position along a route at the selected time.
The available forecast range can vary by location. For Smart Navigation subscribers, Orca generally shows between 7 and 10 days of forecast depending on the data available for the selected area. The forecast may be more detailed for the near future and becomes less granular further ahead in time.
Free users and Plus subscribers can see up to 5 day of forecasts.
Expanded view
The expanded Waves view also shows:
Forecast updated information.
Automatic selection for weather model.
Waves currently uses Automatic selection only. This means Orca automatically selects the forecast source or model for the selected area.
Shows the expanded Waves view, where you can see when the forecast was last updated and the weather model selection. Waves uses Automatic selection, meaning Orca automatically selects the forecast source or model for the selected area.
How is it measured?
Waves are measured by height, direction, and period.
Wave height tells you how high the waves are expected to be. Wave direction tells you where the waves are moving. Wave period tells you the time between waves.