Is it safe to take a dip?

Our Data Sources

SwimCast combines data from multiple reliable sources to give you the most accurate swim forecasts:

• AccuWeather API: For broad coverage, we utilize AccuWeather's comprehensive weather data, including temperature, precipitation, wind, and severe weather alerts for locations worldwide.
• Ambient Weather Stations: In select locations, we have our own Ambient Weather stations providing hyper-local, real-time atmospheric data for enhanced accuracy. These stations measure precise conditions right where you might be swimming. You'll know you're using an enhanced accuracy location when you see "Enhanced Accuracy Enabled" on top of the location you chose.
• Safety Algorithms: Our proprietary algorithms analyze this data, focusing on factors critical for swimmers: thunderstorm proximity and timing, duration and intensity of rain, water temperature (where available), and air quality.

This multi-layered approach ensures you receive timely and relevant information to make safe swimming decisions.

Our Mission: Safe Swims, Every Time

SwimCast was born from a passion for swimming, coding, and electronics, but most importantly a commitment to swimmers' safety. We believe everyone should enjoy the water with peace of mind. As a swimmer myself, I’ve experienced the fear of thunder lurking around the corner, causing heavy rain and lightning. This threat caused me and my team to stay in the pool locker room, which poses a safety risk to everyone and just delays or even cancels swim practices and meets, which can be very valuable to swimmers and their parents. Think about this; you woke up at 5:30 AM for an outdoor swim meet, but it just gets canceled due to thunder! If the meet hosts knew it was going to thunder you could have slept in. Traditional weather forecasts are excellent, but many of them were poorly designed for mobile devices and displayed numerous ads, making it difficult to access the raw information. Furthermore, most forecasts fail to adequately highlight the specific risks that swimmers face, such as the precise timing of a passing thunderstorm or the duration of heavy rain that could impact water quality, speed, or visibility. That's why we created SwimCast: to provide clear, concise, and precise information tailored to swimmers as soon as it becomes available.

Our goal is to provide a dedicated, easy-to-understand forecast service that helps swimmers, families, and aquatic facility managers make informed decisions. Our small team consists of avid swimmers, weather enthusiasts, and developers all dedicated to making SwimCast the most reliable companion for your aquatic adventures.

This site is a passion project created by Markos Mastronikolas, a 14-year-old swimmer and developer from Maryland, USA. I started swimming for the first time at the age of 5, and started swimming for a team at age 8; back when I used to never take my shirt off in the pool, even though it was causing tons of drag and potential speed loss! When I joined the RMSC swim team at age 10, I went to my first meet on the team (October Kick-Off Classic). I started to improve quickly on the team and by the next Country Glen MCSL season, I was 11 and finally saw the risks of swimming in rain and possible thunderstorms when we had to evacuate the pool during a practice and even had to cancel a meet due to lightning. I figured out how weather works, including how hurricanes and weather patterns show themselves on a radar, and I thought it was very interesting. I combined my passions for swimming, coding, weather, and electronics to create SwimCast, and I really hope you enjoy it! My SwimCloud page