BEST BEACHES IN THE USA: beach rating scale

PHYSICAL FACTORS (relate to the vacation/holiday season)	CATEGORIES
	1	2	3	4	5
1. Beach width at low tide	<10 m narrow	10-30 m	30-60 m	60-100 m	>100 m wide
2. Beach material	cobbles	sand/cobbles	coarse sand	-----	fine sand
3. Beach condition or variation	erosional	-----	stable	-----	depositional
4. Sand softness	hard	-----	-----	-----	soft
5. Water temperature	cold/hot	-----	-----	-----	warm (70°-80° F)
6. Air temperature (midday)	< 60° F > 100° F	-----	-----	-----	80°-90° F
7. Number of sunny days	few	-----	-----	-----	many
8. Amount of rain	large	-----	-----	-----	little
9. Wind speeds	high	-----	-----	-----	low
10.Size of breaking waves	high/dangerous	-----	-----	-----	low/safe
11. Number of waves/width of breaker zone	none	1-2	3-4	5	6+
12. Beach slope (underwater)	steeply sloping bottom	-----	-----	-----	gently sloping bottom
13. Longshore current	strong	-----	-----	-----	weak
14. Rip currents	often	-----	-----	-----	never
15. Color of sand	gray	black	brown	light tan	white/pink
16. Tidal range	large (>4 m)	3-4 m	2-3 m	1-2 m	small (<1 m)
17. Beach shape	straight	-----	-----	-----	pocket
18. Bathing area bottom conditions	rocky, cobbles, mud	-----	-----	-----	fine sand
19. Turbidity	turbid	-----	-----	-----	clear
20. Water color	gray	-----	-----	-----	aquablue
21. Floating/suspended human material (sewage, scum)	plentiful	-----	-----	-----	none
22. Algae in water amount	infested	-----	-----	-----	absent
23. Red tide	common	-----	-----	-----	none
24. Smell (eg, seaweed, rotting fish)	bad odors	-----	-----	-----	fresh salty air
25. Wildlife (eg, shore birds)	none	-----	-----	-----	plentiful
26. Pests (biting flies, ticks, mosquitoes)	common	-----	-----	-----	no problem
27. Presence of sewarage/runoff outfall lines on/across the beach	several	-----	-----	-----	none
28. Seaweed/jellyfish on the beach	many	-----	-----	-----	none
29. Trash and litter(paper, plastics, nets, ropes, planks)	common	-----	-----	-----	rare
30. Oil and tar balls	common	-----	-----	-----	none
31. Glass and rubble	common	-----	-----	-----	rare
32. Views and vistas - Local scene	obstructed	-----	-----	-----	unobstructed
33. Views and vistas - Far vista	confined	-----	-----	-----	unconfined
34. Buildings/Urbanism	overdeveloped	-----	-----	-----	pristine/wild
35. Access	limited	-----	-----	-----	good
36. Misfits (nuclear power station, offshore dumping)	present	-----	-----	-----	none
37. Vegetation (nearby). Trees, sand dunes	none	-----	-----	-----	many
38. Well-kept grounds/promenades or natural environment	no	-----	-----	-----	yes
39. Amenities (showers, chairs, bars, etc)	none	-----	-----	-----	some
40. Lifeguards	none	-----	-----	-----	present
41. Safety record (deaths)	some	-----	-----	-----	none
42. Domestic animals (eg, dogs)	many	-----	-----	-----	none
43. Noise (cars, nearby highways, trains)	much	-----	-----	-----	little
44. Noise (eg, crowds, radios)	much	-----	-----	-----	little
45. Presence of seawalls, riprap, concrete/rubble	large amount	-----	-----	-----	none
46. Intensity of beach use	overcrowded	-----	-----	-----	ample open space
47. Off-road vehicles	common	-----	-----	-----	none
48. Floatables in water (garbage, toilet paper)	common	-----	-----	-----	none
49. Public safety (eg, pickpockets, crime)	common	-----	-----	-----	rare
50. Competition for free use of beach (eg, fishermen, boaters, water-skiers)	many	-----	-----	-----	few