Skippers only please-What weather forecasting method do you use?

[Ian@1904]

The weather at Swanage yesterday was rather better than predicted by the BBC Met Office. I got into discussion with Martin the skipper about this, and he uses Precision Weather.
http://theyr.net/cg/cny/I1f126c/F=js...gl_Southampton

What do you other skippers use?
I will accept that Andy uses some kelp and a fir cone.

[ray]

Hi.

BBC weather, anything with isobars on, I can also make my own weather map from the shipping forecast if need be.

A trick I employ if diving for a long period, maybe a long weekend is stick your back to the wind, then stick your left arm out, this will roughly point towards the center of a low, as the low moves past the direction of your arm will change, from this you can judge where the low is and what direction you can expect the wind direction from. High pressure usually has winds revolving clockwise, but it usually not a problem in summer as high's are usually light winds and good weather.

A low usually has wind revolving round a low in the Northern hemisphere anti-clockwise, and clockwise in the Southern hemisphere, this is known as the Coriolis effect, where the equator revolves round at a relevant greater speed to the poles.

E.G.
If you had a bath of water drop some ink in, then pull a stick along in a straight line you would see the same effect with the swirling eddies.

I think the water going down the plug hole anti-clockwise scenario is a load of tosh, unless you no different

[Hazel W]

seaweed and a crystal ball!........




seriously though ... northern isles weather based on met office reports
and Orkney harbours broadcasts the met office forecast twice a day


Hazel

[Prometheus]

At work we have a piece of string if its wet its raining, if stiff below freezing,depending on movement and angle, wind strength and direction, if you can't see it it's foggy or night, for the tides if the river wall is wet tides going out if its dry tides coming in( may have to alter prediction if string is wet though). On my own boat I tend to use ECWMF isobar charts and medium range forecasts.

Water does alter direction dependant on which hemisphere, and on equator can't make its mind up.

[IanT]

Been using the wind Guru and have found it very good

Check it out

http://www.windguru.cz


Regards

Ian

[davelaut]

Hi
Dave from Sidewinder

I Use the following
http://www.theyr.net (select the UK from the top left side drop down menus) This site is very good.

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/topkarten/fsngpeur.html (Select no gaps from the top left, in the panel to the right select the bottom line 10m winds and you can look up to 5 days in advance this is pretty good and reliable.

Additionally you can look on the BBC website for weather information this is pretty good as well and finally not forgetting the met office website.

Hope this helps
Dave

[louigi]

I always find it best to look out the window. if I cant see out it's raining or foggy if it's white it's snowing or frosty and if it's rattling like hell it's blowing a gale so if there is bright light coming through it's sunny so if its sunny i't'll soon be doing any one or combination of the outhers.

[BobAnderson]

As with the others, theyr.net is about the best site for wind

I stitched the wettercentrale isobar charts onto the one page to make for easier viewing


http://haltonocean.thedeepstop.com/weather/isobar-chart/

Admittedly, the above link is part of a gimick to get people on the blog but at it's heart lies a usefull tip. I have this elsewhere (not telling you where as it will send my stats silly) too so that with one click on my laptop I can get the run right out to 120hrs: handy when out on the boat etc. If you want to do the same, just copy the scource code and host the site somewhere yourself (homepage etc). After a while you get in to the routine of when they update the pages so you can get an idea of what they are thinking is going to happen too.

I used to use www.metcheck.com but it seems not to refelect the extremes so well. usefull as a rough and ready guide but little else.

[Jen]

Originally Posted by ray

I think the water going down the plug hole anti-clockwise scenario is a load of tosh, unless you no different

On a flight to Australia I wanted to see what the water would do as we passed directly over the equator so I went off to the loo and filled the sink. Just as we went over we hit turbulance, the water splashed out and soaked me. So now I know

[BobAnderson]

Just as an update:

http://theyr.net/index.html has now gone to a subscription service but still worth the money. 35/year