Acknowledgements and data sources

Last updated October 20, 2026

Veabird's forecasts stand on public data and research that other people made. This page says who they are, what we use their work for, and what the credit means.

Independence: a credit is not an endorsement

Veabird is an independent site. Naming a source here is credit for its data, nothing more. None of the agencies, labs or companies named on this page has reviewed, approved or endorsed Veabird, its forecasts, grades, scores or analyses. Those are Veabird's own work, and any mistakes in them are ours.

NOAA. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration does not endorse Veabird or any commercial product, and it has not sanctioned the way we use its data. We use NOAA's name and the names of its offices only to say where data comes from.

Sargassum (seaweed)

• NOAA AOML Sargassum Inundation Risk (SIR). A daily risk score from 0 to 3 along Caribbean and Gulf coastlines, from the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory's CoastWatch Caribbean node. The SIR team shared its daily files so we could test the product against what actually happened on beaches. We use SIR for that check, and we will share the results openly with credit.
• Satellite sargassum data: USF Optical Oceanography Lab (Sargassum Watch System) via NOAA AOML. The NOAA AOML floating-algae composites we use are made from the lab's data, and we show charts and maps from its monthly bulletin with the lab's permission, as long as we credit it and never charge users.
• Beach conditions from the ground. Daily hydrogen sulfide readings beside Martinique's stranding beaches, from Madininair (Source: Madininair, Licence Ouverte 2.0), help us check seaweed forecasts. Webcam views from HDOnTap help us check beaches in the Turks and Caicos, Florida, Texas and the Bahamas. We use them with HDOnTap's permission: we do not republish their images, and we show only our own ratings, credited to HDOnTap.

Weather, waves and alerts

• Open-Meteo: weather, marine and ERA5 climate history, and the ECMWF seasonal outlooks behind our snow report.
• NOAA/National Weather Service alerts and observations, and NOAA National Data Buoy Center wave buoys, which we use to score our wave forecast.
• NOAA Climate Prediction Center outlooks and the Oceanic Niño Index, which feed our El Niño winter report. USDA NRCS SNOTEL stations, which we score snow forecasts against.

Lodging, prices and photos

Hotel prices, reviews and photos, and how Veabird earns from partner links, are explained on the affiliate disclosure page.

Corrections

If you work for one of these organizations and a credit here is wrong or should read differently, write to hello@veabird.com and we will fix it. Our methods are described on the snow and beach pages.