How we research and verify beach guides

A sourced guide is not a promise that every entrance is open or every condition is safe. Verification applies to the named fact, location and date.

Different kinds of evidence

• Official rules: the responsible authority’s ordinance, park rule or access notice. A rule for one town or park is not a countywide default.
• Laboratory results: an official sample at a named station, with its collection date. A nearby station is context, not a sample taken at this beach.
• Dated agency confirmations: confirmation of the specific entrance or rule discussed. Later changes remain possible.
• Editorial assessments: our interpretation of documented setting and activities, distinguished from official facts.
• Firsthand observations: an identified observer, place and observation date. Desk research and photographs are not described as an on-site inspection.
• Unknowns and conflicts: not evidence of absence. Contradictory sources remain open until reviewed; we do not choose a convenient answer.

Review schedules

Our approved Research Standard groups fields by volatility. Rapid changes receive live checks where connected or a 30-day review queue; fees, schedules and services are reviewed every six months; rules annually; stable facilities annually; physical characteristics every three years. Changes, storms and corrections can trigger earlier review.

These are review targets, not claims that every old record has already been rechecked. A guide-wide desk-review date does not verify every field. Missing field-level dates are queued for evidence review; we never stamp them with today’s date to make them look fresh.

Conditions and their clocks

Sample time means when water was collected. Observation time means when a station or authority observed a condition. Retrieval time means when our service or your browser obtained a report. A new retrieval never turns an old observation into a new one.

Nearby weather observations expire after two hours; forecasts after their validity limit or 24 hours; hourly UV estimates at the hour boundary; area-alert checks after two hours or an earlier alert expiry. Tide predictions are planning calculations, not observed water levels. Dated fallbacks are explicitly labeled not current after expiry or a failed refresh.

Water reports checked more than 36 hours ago are overdue. Samples older than 14 days are historical. Even a recent laboratory result does not establish swimming safety now. Both dates remain visible. Local flag reports require an authority, location coverage and observation time, and expire at the earlier of six hours or the stated expiration. A forecast of low rip-current risk is never converted into a green flag.

What a source change means

Relevant changes enter a field-specific review queue. A page redesign, inaccessible source or changed menu does not automatically invalidate the previously documented fact or resolve a conflict. Unscoped changes require comparison by a reviewer.

Ratings and corrections

Read the rating explanations · See meaningful correction history · Report a correction