Virginia

Westmoreland State Park (Fossil Beach)

Virginia's fossil-hunting flagship. Cliffs of the Calvert Formation drop Miocene treasure into the Potomac shore.

⚠ Partial inputs

today

Good

Cliff site — continuous erosion baseline · low tide during daylight · offshore wind — ~0.5ft below predicted (more beach) · best low 63

Today at a glance

Updated 2026-07-21T08:52:39.112Z

Solid hunting day. Best window opens around the 3:19 PM low (0.4 ft). Moderate S winds (12 mph).

Heads up: a second low at 3:15 AM is after dark — bring a headlamp.

Next 3 days: Next few days look steady — all good-range. Pick whatever fits your schedule.

Best Window Today

3:19 PM

Plan around the good low-tide window. Cliff site — continuous erosion baseline · low tide during daylight · offshore wind — ~0.5ft below predicted (more beach) · best low 63.

Hunt score

Good

Astronomical low

0.4 ft

3:19 PM

Predicted real low

-0.1 ft

below NOAA by 0.5 ft

Low-window wind

0 mph

Light — negligible effect

Tides: NOAA Colonial Beach, VA (station 8635150)

Best window this week

Mon, Jul 27 · 8:18 PM

Offshore 8mph — more beach

Score

Good

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 10:02 AM · Sunset 12:27 AM

Wind right now

12 mph from S

Gusts 26 mph · best from S

Wind is offshore — water blown out, more beach exposed. Good.

Past 7 days

Compare model output to your actual visits.

Next 7 days

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▼ 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 8635150 (Colonial Beach, VA) — local time, MLLW datum. Click to verify on NOAA. Cards show LOWS only (best for hunting); highs are visible on the tide curve below.

Tide curve · next 48h

🌤️ 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 63

Cliff sites score from a baseline plus recent storm stir, daylight low tide timing, wind exposure, and seasonal events (only when storms are actually shedding cliff material).

Best low

3:19 PM at 0.4 ft

Predicted real low

-0.1 ft

Wind deviation

More beach by 0.5 ft

Explain this scoreShow breakdown ▾

💡

Analysis

Solid. Reliable productivity expected.

Cliff baseline + tide depth

43.8 / 50

Constant 45 baseline (cliffs always shed) plus ±5 from how deep the best low actually pulls back.

Storm stir

3.6 / 25

Past 72h wind churn (peak gust 30 mph). Offshore = +, onshore = −.

Light at best low

9.0 / 9

Daylight low = +9, twilight = 0, headlamp-only = −9.

Wind exposure at best low

5.5 / 12

Wind setup drains 0.5 ft of water around the low.

Spring tide

0.6 / 5

Closer to a new or full moon = wider tidal swing.

Recent rainfall

0.0 / 12

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

Event boostadded

No active events for this site today.

Why not higher? The biggest unused headroom today is storm stir (+21.4 pts available). A day with that maxed out would score around 84.

Show the math

components: 43.8 + 3.6 + 9.0 + 5.5 + 0.6 + 0.0 = 62.6 final = 63

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, clamped 0–100.

Score model 2026.04.29 · how this is calculated

Hunted here today?

Rate this hunt

We predicted 63. Tell us how it actually went — your rating calibrates the model.

model 2026.04.29

Lining up the next 7 days of tides…

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Event timeline

⚡

Calvert Cliffs Spring Freeze-Thaw Erosion Window

ended

Late winter freeze-thaw cycles destabilize the Chesapeake Group cliffs. March–early May historically produces the most fresh fall material on the beaches at Brownie's, Matoaka, and Westmoreland.

2026-03-01 – 2026-05-15

- Freeze-thaw cycles loosen cliff matrix

- First low tide after a heavy rain or nor'easter is prime

+10 pts

Geology

FormationsCalvert Formation

EpochsMiocene

Age~18-14 million years

Star speciesOtodus megalodon (rare)

Technique

Wrack-line walking at low tide. Visitor center is excellent for ID.

Access

State park entry fee, short trail to Fossil Beach. Restrooms at lots.

🗺 Open in Google Maps 🧭 Open in Apple Maps

Legality & ethics

Beach surface collecting allowed. Do not dig cliffs.

Hazards

CLIFF COLLAPSE
Sea nettles in summer

Insider tips

Walk the entire south shoreline; the cliffs near Horsehead Cliffs are most productive
Stratford Hall (Lee birthplace) cliffs are NOT publicly accessible - don't trespass