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Our forecasts, verified

No promises — measurements. Every day, yesterday’s forecast is compared with what the satellite actually observed. Here is the method, and the numbers — including the ones we miss.

Our forecasts, verified

No promises — measurements. Every day, yesterday’s forecast is compared with what the satellite actually observed. Here is the method, and the numbers — including the ones we miss.

100% correct "clean water" forecasts · 2,362 checks · calm season
The method

How a forecast is made

Copernicus / NOAA satellite, 4 passes a dayThe AFAI floating-algae index is sampled offshore of every beach, pixel by pixel — never a regional average.
A drift model, not a crystal ballBeaching persistence (3.5-day half-life), wind and offshore mats: the 7-day forecast is recomputed at every satellite pass.
An automatic backtest, every single dayEvery forecast is archived, then checked against the satellite observation on the target day. Fully automatic — nobody edits the numbers.
When data is missing, we show nothingNo invented figures: if a measurement does not exist, the section disappears rather than guessing.

100% of our "clean water" forecasts (calm season, 2026-05-17 → 2026-06-17) proved correct (over 2362); the rare alerts stay flagged low-confidence until the data confirms them.

100%
"Clean" Forecasts
Correct at 100% (2,362 samples)
23%
False Alarm Rate
23% in calm season

Period: 2026-05-17 → 2026-06-17

Accuracy, measured

How good are our forecasts

100% of our "clean water" forecasts (calm season, 2026-05-17 → 2026-06-17) proved correct (over 2362); the rare alerts stay flagged low-confidence until the data confirms them.

From May 17 to June 17, 2026, 3,420 forecasts were checked against satellite observations across 20 beaches.

Accuracy is measured on our longest-running network — 20 Caribbean beaches (Martinique & Guadeloupe), where the verification archive is deepest. The exact same model (pipeline v3) powers the Riviera Maya forecasts.

76%
correct status 1 day ahead
72%
correct status 3 days ahead
77%
across all horizons

A forecast counts as a “hit” when the predicted status (clean, moderate, avoid) matches the status the satellite observed on the target day. Mean absolute error on the AFAI index: 0.044.

HorizonHit rateChecksDisplayed confidence
Day +176%62050%
Day +272%60037%
Day +372%58030%
Day +476%56012%
Day +582%5409%
Day +688%5206%

The model also publishes its own confidence: high at day +1, low at day +6. When it is low, read the forecast as a trend, not a certainty.

What we miss

8 of 20 beaches score above 90%. The hardest ones to predict — published anyway:

  • La Caravelle (Guadeloupe) — 23%
  • Sainte-Anne (Guadeloupe) — 50%
  • Le Diamant (Martinique) — 52%

Exposed beaches whose state hovers around a threshold (clean / moderate) remain the hardest to predict.

Freshness

The data you are looking at

Latest satellite measurement June 17 at 10:17 AM UTC ·
12 monitored sampling points · data re-checked 4 times a day · this page is regenerated with every update.
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SARGASSUM RIVIERA MAYA · Data: Copernicus Marine & NOAA ERDDAP · backtest recomputed automatically