📍 Choosing a Site

Use the site selector in the top-right to switch between locations:

• Calvert Cliffs - Flag Pond & Calvert Cliffs SP, Chesapeake Bay (Miocene shark teeth & bones)
• Purse S.P. - Purse State Park, Nanjemoy Creek, MD (small river beach)
• Westmoreland & Stratford Hall - Fossil Beach, Potomac River, VA (shark teeth, rays, mosasaur)
• Widewater - Widewater State Park, VA (Potomac gravel bars)
• Aquia Landing - Aquia Creek, Stafford VA (Eocene Nanjemoy Formation)
• All Sites - Side-by-side score comparison for every location

🔢 Condition Score

A 0-10 score for current fossil-hunting conditions, updated hourly. Higher = better exposure & recent material turnover.

• 7-10 Great to exceptional - prime time to go
• 4-6 Fair - worth going, conditions are moderate
• 0-3 Poor - calm conditions, minimal fresh exposure

The score combines signals like recent storm rain, bay-clearing winds, wave action, and current conditions over the past 72 hours.

🏖️ Hunting Windows

Low-tide windows during daylight hours (7AM-5PM) over the next 7 days - when beach exposure is greatest. Each card shows:

• Time & tide height - lower tides = more beach exposed
• Window score — combines today's conditions score with the tide bonus. ⭐ marks the best window of the forecast period.
• Color-coded borders: ■ weekend · ■ weekday · ■ Purse SP
• Wind warnings shown when onshore/pushing winds will fight your beach access

📊 Scoring Signals

The signals panel (bottom-left) breaks down why the score is what it is. Each signal adds points - for example, heavy rain in the past 72h churns up new material, and bay-clearing SW winds expose more beach. No signals = calm conditions.

🌊 Tide Chart & Rainfall

• Tide chart - 7-day NOAA forecast in feet MLLW. Hover to read exact height & time. Yellow dashed lines mark noon each day.
• Rainfall - Past 72h (blue) and next 24h forecast (green) in inches. Recent rain is one of the strongest indicators of fresh fossil exposure.
• Wind - Direction & speed shown below rainfall. Bay-clearing winds push water away & expose more beach. Bay-pushing winds do the opposite.

🔄 Data Freshness

Data auto-refreshes every 15 minutes automatically. The timestamp in the top bar shows when data was last fetched from NOAA & weather sources.