Conditions
Wind, sea and tide at Teignmouth
These are measurements, not advice. Nobody should decide to go on the water from this page alone. How to read this page
Right now
Teignmouth, Wednesday 23 September
Checked at 23:40
some readings below are older
Wind
5kn 5 mph
from NW, force 2
gusting 9 kn (11 mph)
Held from 11:24 — the source is not answering just now.
13°C, visibility 24.6 km
Rain
0.0mm this hour
Overcast
Chance of rain 0%
100% cloud
Held from 11:24 — the source is not answering just now.
Sea
0.1m
every 5 s, from SSE
swell 0.1 m
Tide
Coming in
High water at 05:38 (3.9 m)
5 h 57 min away
Gauge -1.111 m and falling
The mouth of the river can be hazardous, particularly at mid tide on an outgoing tide. What follows is a rough calculation of how fast the water is likely to be flowing at the mouth, but it can be strongly affected by air pressure, the wind direction, and the amount of fresh water trying to force its way out to sea. The tidal coefficient gives you a good idea of what to expect: the higher the coefficient, the stronger the flow.
65
Tidal coefficient today
Average tide — a range of 2.5 m predicted.
On the usual 20 to 120 scale, where an average neap here is 45 and an average spring 95 (ranges of 1.6 m and 3.9 m). The official figure is set at Brest for the whole Channel coast; this is the same scale worked out from Teignmouth's own tide.
Tidal stream
Going out about 1.9 kn
38% of the way this estuary runs at springs, which the harbour authority puts at 5 knots.
Measured on the Environment Agency tide gauge Teignmouth (station 46121, grid reference SX 938 726, on a map), which reads the water level every fifteen minutes. The water is falling 0.44 m an hour at 22:30. The fastest this gauge has moved in a fortnight is 1.17 m an hour, and today's range is 2.5 m against 3.7 m at springs.
Fresh water
0.47m³/s
coming down the river and steady or falling
about the same as the last fortnight. It leaves on the ebb.
The next 24 hours, against the hardest hour of the week — taller is faster water, and the gaps are the turns.
coming in going out
Due allowance needs to be taken of tidal flows which can be 4 to 5 knots during springs in the entrance between the Lucette Light and Den Point. Teignmouth Harbour Commission
An estimate, not a prediction. It is worked out from how fast the water is rising and falling on the Environment Agency gauge, scaled by the fastest that gauge has moved in the last fortnight. A stream in an entrance can keep running after the level has turned, and a day of wind piling water into the bay is not in this figure at all.
Tidal coefficient, day by day
The higher the number, the bigger the tide and the harder the water runs through the mouth. 45 is an average neap here and 95 an average spring.
- Today 65 average tide Smallest
- Thu 24 75 spring tide
- Fri 25 80 spring tide
- Sat 26 88 spring tide
- Sun 27 95 big spring tide Biggest
- Mon 28 95 big spring tide Biggest
- Tue 29 95 big spring tide Biggest
- Wed 30 93 spring tide
- Thu 1 83 spring tide
- Fri 2 72 spring tide
from the Admiralty predictions from the tide model, scaled to agree with the Admiralty on the days both cover — rougher, so treat those days as a guide to the pattern rather than a figure.
How these numbers are worked out
The tidal coefficient is a way of saying how big a tide is, on a scale from 20 to 120. The official figure is set at Brest by the French hydrographic office, and it is one number for the whole Channel coast. We have not copied that number. We use the same scale worked out from Teignmouth's own tide, so that an average neap here comes out at 45 and an average spring at 95, just as they do on the official scale.
To do that we need two figures for Teignmouth: how far the tide rises and falls on an average spring tide, and on an average neap. The published mean tide levels here are 4.6 m and 0.7 m at springs, and 3.6 m and 2.0 m at neaps, which gives a spring range of 3.9 m and a neap range of 1.6 m. Each day's range is then placed in a straight line between the two: a 1.6 m day is 45, a 3.9 m day is 95, and bigger or smaller tides carry on in proportion.
Each day's range is the highest high water less the lowest low water, from the Admiralty tide predictions for Teignmouth. Those cover a week. The last few days come from a marine tide model that runs a little further ahead. Its heights are not quite the same as the Admiralty's, so we compare the two on the days both cover and scale the model to match. Those days are striped because they are the rougher figure.
The coefficient tells you how big the tide is. It does not tell you how fast the water will run on the day: wind, air pressure and the amount of fresh water coming down the river all change that, and none of them is in this number.
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Tidal stream — The tide is flooding.
About Teignmouth
Winds from the NE, E, SE and S (onshore winds) will tend to build a sea state in the approaches depending on strength and will cause broken water across the bar. This will be accentuated on an ebb tide and at low water. Teignmouth Harbour Commission
Streams here reach 5 knots on springs.
| Day | Wind | From | Gust | Sea | Rain | High water | Light |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wed 23 Sep | 9 kn 10 mph |
NW | 16 kn 19 mph |
0.3 m | 0 mm 0% chance |
04:47, 17:03 coefficient 65 |
07:01–19:10 |
| Thu 24 Sep | 7 kn 9 mph |
E | 14 kn 17 mph |
0.2 m | 0 mm 0% chance |
05:38, 17:52 coefficient 75 |
07:03–19:08 |
| Fri 25 Sep | 11 kn 13 mph |
NW | 19 kn 22 mph |
0.4 m | 0 mm 9% chance |
06:23, 18:37 coefficient 80 |
07:04–19:05 |
| Sat 26 Sep | 9 kn 10 mph |
W | 14 kn 16 mph |
0.4 m | 0 mm 10% chance |
07:06, 19:21 coefficient 88 |
07:06–19:03 |
| Sun 27 Sep | 13 kn 15 mph |
S | 22 kn 25 mph |
0.6 m | 3 mm 43% chance |
07:47, 20:02 coefficient 95 |
07:07–19:01 |
| Mon 28 Sep | 9 kn 11 mph |
E | 16 kn 18 mph |
1 m | 1.2 mm 41% chance |
08:23, 20:37 coefficient 95 |
07:09–18:59 |
| Tue 29 Sep | 15 kn 17 mph |
ESE | 26 kn 30 mph |
2 m | 1.6 mm 71% chance |
08:55, 21:10 coefficient 95 |
07:11–18:56 |
Wind, rain and waves from the Met Office and marine models through Open-Meteo, and the chance of rain from Open-Meteo's blended forecast, which is the one that publishes a percentage; tide predictions from the UK Hydrographic Office; the live water level and the river flow from the Environment Agency, which are also what the tidal stream is worked out from. A forecast is not a promise — look at the sea before you launch.
Contains ADMIRALTY ® tidal data: © Crown copyright and database right
Look at the beaches
Other people's cameras, opening in a new tab. A picture of the water beats every number on this page.
- Back Beach Across Back Beach and up the estuary to Shaldon, the bridge and Dartmoor behind it. The launch view. Run by Coast Cams
- The Pier and the Ness South-west along the front, over the pier to the Ness and the entrance. The one to look at before going near the bar. Run by National Coastwatch Teignmouth
- The Parson and Clerk North-east up the coast towards Holcombe and the Parson and Clerk, which is where a swell from that quarter shows first. Run by National Coastwatch Teignmouth
None of these cameras belongs to the club and none of them is pointed where you are going. A camera shows one angle, at whatever moment it last refreshed, and it flattens a sea that looks nothing like that from a boat. Walk down and look.
The docks and shipping
03:47–05:47 and 16:03–18:03
Today's most likely hours for a ship to be moving, an hour either side of each high water.
Shipping movements normally occur up to one hour either side of high water but can occasionally occur at other states of the tide. However during neaps movements can occur at most states of the tide depending on size and draft of the vessel. Teignmouth Harbour Commission
Listen on VHF Channel 12 when you are in the entrance or the harbour — that is where the movements are called.
Latest notices to mariners
- 02/26 Local Notice to Mariners – Boating and Alcohol 8 January 2026
- 01/26 Local Notice to Mariners – Watercraft Registration 2026 8 January 2026
- 12/23 Local Notice to Mariners – Dredging October 2023 2 October 2023
Published by Teignmouth Harbour Commission. Their page is the one that counts.
These are the hours a ship is most likely to be moving, worked out from today's high waters — not a timetable, and nobody has told this page what is sailing. A ship in the entrance has right of way over everything, cannot stop and cannot go round you.
Water quality
Nothing reported
64 monitored storm overflows within 8 km of Teignmouth, read at 23:38.
3 of those monitors are not reporting, so those are neither quiet nor busy as far as this page knows.
A monitor recording a discharge means the overflow operated. It does not measure what is in the water, and it cannot tell you the water is unsafe — or safe.
No discharge showing does not mean clean water. A monitor that is not reporting says nothing at all, which is why the number of those is shown above.
This covers the water company's own overflows. It does not cover farm run-off, which after heavy rain on the Teign catchment is often the bigger part of it. The river flow figure further up this page is the better guide to that.
Storm overflow data from South West Water, used under CC BY 4.0. Their map is the one that counts.
How to read this page
Everything above is a measurement or a forecast, collected from public sources and put in one place. None of it is advice, and no combination of it adds up to permission to go on the water. The decision is made by the people on the beach, under the club's own rules and the judgement of whoever is leading.
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Whether it is safe for you, today
The same sea is routine for one paddler and dangerous for another. Nothing here knows your boat, your group, your clothing, how far you are going or how tired you were when you set out.
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What the bar is doing
The wave figure is open water outside the entrance. Broken water across the bar can be far worse than that number suggests, particularly on an ebb and at low water. The only way to know is to look at it, and to read the harbour authority's own guidance linked on this page.
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What the next hour will do
A forecast is an hourly average for one point. Wind shifts, squalls and the sea state they build arrive between the readings.
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Where the other traffic is
Teignmouth is a working port. Ships, the pilot boat, fishing boats and moorings are not on this page at all.
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How old each figure is
Each panel shows when it was read. The live gauge is usually half an hour or so behind, and if a source is down the page says so rather than hiding it — but a figure on screen always looks current. Check the time before you rely on it.
Where each figure comes from
| The figure | Where it comes from | How current | What it does not cover |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wind, gusts, temperature, visibility | The Met Office model, through Open-Meteo | Refreshed every half hour; the value for the current hour | An average over open water at one point, ten metres up. Gusts funnelling round the Ness or along the sea wall are not in it. |
| Rain, and the sky in words | The same Met Office model. The percentage chance comes from Open-Meteo's blended forecast, because the Met Office model does not publish one | Refreshed every half hour | Two models, so the amount and the chance can disagree with each other. Neither sees a shower that forms in twenty minutes. |
| Waves and swell | The marine model, through Open-Meteo | Refreshed every half hour | Open water outside the bar. It is not a figure for the bar, the entrance or the beach. |
| High and low water | Admiralty predictions from the UK Hydrographic Office | Predictions, refreshed every six hours | Astronomy only. A strong onshore blow or low pressure can raise the level and move the time of the turn. |
| Water level now | The Environment Agency tide gauge at Teignmouth | Measured every fifteen minutes, usually reaching us half an hour to an hour later | One gauge in the estuary. It is not the depth where you are. |
| The tidal stream | Not forecast by anybody free. Worked out here from how fast that gauge is moving, against the fastest it has moved in a fortnight, scaled by the rate the harbour authority publishes for springs | As current as the gauge behind it | An estimate, and the roughest figure on the page. In an entrance the stream can keep running after the level has turned, and a day of wind piling water into the bay is not in it at all. |
| Fresh water in the river | The Environment Agency flow gauge at Chudleigh Bridge | Measured every fifteen minutes | What is coming down the Teign today, not what the estuary will look like when it arrives. |
Using it well
Plan with it and decide on the water's edge. Treat anything flagged on this page as a reason to look harder, and never treat the absence of a flag as permission — the page only knows what it was told by four computers. If the picture on the page and the picture in front of you disagree, the one in front of you is right. If in doubt, do not go.
If you are not sure how to read something here, ask a club coach or whoever is leading the trip. Nobody has ever thought less of a paddler for asking.
In an emergency on or near the water, dial 999 and ask for the Coastguard.