South Carolina

Hilton Head - Burkes Beach

A polished resort coast hides genuine fossil hash. The mid-island beaches see tidal swings that move serious sand and reveal teeth.

⚠ Partial inputs

today

Great

5.7ft swing · neap tide · low 9:00 PM · post-storm · +6 event boost

Today at a glance

Updated 2026-07-21T08:51:44.999Z

Solid hunting day. Best window opens around the 9 PM low (1.1 ft, likely 0.3 ft below NOAA → more beach exposed). Moderate S winds (13 mph); seas 3 ft+ — murky and choppy.

Next 3 days: Today is the pick (80); Thu runs cooler at 66.

Best Window Today

9:00 PM

Plan around the great low-tide window. 5.7ft swing · neap tide · low 9:00 PM · post-storm · +6 event boost.

Hunt score

Great

Astronomical low

1.1 ft

9:00 PM

Predicted real low

0.9 ft

below NOAA by 0.3 ft

Low-window wind

7 mph

Offshore (good)

Tides: NOAA Port Royal Plantation, Hilton Head, SC (station 8669167)

Best window this week

Mon, Jul 27 · 1:05 PM

5.9ft swing · low 1:05 PM · 0.14" recent rain · +6 event boost

Score

Great

Confidence: Partial — noaa tide station, on-site outcomes. Hover the badge above for the input-by-input breakdown.

Tonight's moon

First quarter

49% illuminated

Sunrise 10:31 AM · Sunset 12:29 AM

Wind right now

13 mph from S

Gusts 21 mph · best from E

Wind is mostly offshore — slightly more beach.

Past 7 days

Compare model output to your actual visits.

Next 7 days

Plan a trip →

▼ means the forecast wind will likely push the real low below NOAA's prediction (more beach to hunt). ▲ means it will likely sit above the prediction (less beach). Rough rule: ~0.04 ft per mph of sustained wind during the low-tide window.

Tide times: NOAA CO-OPS station 8669167 (Port Royal Plantation, Hilton Head, SC) — local time, MLLW datum. Click to verify on NOAA. Cards show LOWS only (best for hunting); highs are visible on the tide curve below.

🌤️ Weather & Wave Forecast

Impact on visibility and stir-up over the next 5 days.

Onshore Wind: Pushes water in (tide sits higher) and stirs up the bottom. Good for "new" teeth, bad for visibility.

Offshore Wind: Water blown out (tide sits lower). Maximum beach exposure for hunting the low tide line.

Why today scores 80

The Hunt Score blends tide range, lunar phase, daylight timing, recent stir, wind setup, and surf.

Wave height 3.3 ft

Best low

9:00 PM at 1.1 ft

Predicted real low

0.9 ft

Wind deviation

More beach by 0.3 ft

Explain this scoreShow breakdown ▾

💡

Analysis

Highly favorable. Worth the drive.

Tide range

47.3 / 50

Today's swing is 5.7 ft (saturates at 6 ft = 50 pts).

Spring tide

1.8 / 15

Within ±2 days of a new or full moon = wider swing.

Daylight timing

6.7 / 15

Low in daylight = you can actually hunt.

Recent stir

1.0 / 10

Past 72h onshore wind churn (only counts hours that already happened).

Wind setup at low

2.1 / 10

Forecast wind drains 0.3 ft of water around the low.

Surf bonus

5.0 / 5

1–4 ft of recent surf = clean sorting; >7 ft = unfishable.

Recent rainfall

0.0 / 3

No measurable rain in the past 48h — no runoff signal.

Storm multipliermultiplier

1.15×

Peak gust 28 mph triggers post-storm boost.

Event boostadded

Manual + auto events (storms, drought, beach renourishment).

Show the math

components: 47.3 + 1.8 + 6.7 + 1.0 + 2.1 + 5.0 + 0.0 = 64.0 × storm multiplier 1.15 = 73.6 + event boost +6 = 79.6 final = 80

What's NOT in this score

We are deliberate about which factors to include. These are not currently in the model:

Hunt pressure. A “hunts this week” chip is shown on each location page for transparency, but it does not change the score yet. We need more outcomes per site before a penalty would be statistically meaningful.
Wave period / swell direction. We use wave height only. Long-period groundswell sorts material differently than short wind chop, but Open-Meteo doesn't expose period reliably.
Barometric pressure trend. Falling pressure = approaching storm = building stir. Currently we wait for the wind to actually arrive.
Water temperature, clarity, salinity. Affects comfort but not (directly) what teeth wash up.
Weekday vs weekend. A 70 on Tuesday is often better in practice than a 70 on Saturday because of crowds, but we don't adjust for that.
Beach renourishment. Fresh sand buries everything. We capture this only when an admin logs a manual event — there's no auto-detection.

If you think we should add one of these, log a hunt with notes — every rated outcome helps us decide which signals actually predict tooth count.

Hunt Score

Sum of components × 1.15 + 6 event boost, clamped 0–100.

Score model 2026.04.29 · how this is calculated

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