(1)  Valid time/date is the point in time, referenced to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), at which the forecast applies.
(2)  00Z = Midnight GMT = 7 p.m. East Coast Time (previous day) =  4 p.m. West Coast Time (previous day).
(3)  12Z = Noon GMT = 7 a.m. East Coast Time =  4 a.m. West Coast Time.
(4)  Wave heights are in feet and represent the average of the highest one-third of the waves present, crest-to- trough.  Maximum wave height likely to be observed over a 10 minute interval will be approximately 1.6 times higher than the wave heights shown on the charts above.
(5)  Wave heights are for deep water and do not include shallow-water effects.  Depending on the steepness of the waves, the slope of the bottom in the surf zone and the angle of the coastline (or more precisely, the bottom contours) relative to the incoming waves, surf can be significantly larger or smaller than the wave heights depicted along the coastlines above.
(6)  These products are most useful for determining the TREND of surf heights by looking at how the wave heights along the coast are predicted to change from day to day.  That is, they are best for determining whether or not the surf at your local beach is expected to increase, decrease or stay the same over the next three days, rather than predicting the actual size of the surf on a given day at a particular spot.
(7)  Arrows represent the direction in which the largest waves are moving; smaller waves may be present and moving in directions different from those indicated by the arrows.  Note that waves travel along great-circle paths, the shortest distance between two points on the surface of the globe, not straight lines on the charts above.

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