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The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.
The L.I.Sound Sailor thread got me thinking. There are several different weather sources I use. What do others use?
I start with local news while at home then once on the boat I'll listen to NOAA. I then have 4 weather apps on my iPhone and one web site. Two of the apps are just mobile versions of the Weather Channel and Accu Weather. The Weather Channel app gives me beach info and surf conditions, while AccuWeather gives me a radar image of what may be further out. It's funny how different the two can be. The other 2 apps are Buoy Data and Wind Alert. Buoy Data is basically the same info as reported by NOAA but more specific to each buoy I want plus tide info. Wind Alert is powered by windflow and provides a nice wind graph of current and expected wind conditions(ashore). The web site I review is Sailflow.com, which is good for a more broad wind picture. I do need a cellular signal to use the phone apps, so if I'm at sea I will fire up the XM Weather via my Garmin Map/Sounder. So...too much info? What are your weather habits?
Mark- 'Impulse...’ 1978 C25 #533 SR/DIN/FIN ~_/)~ Bakersfield, CA.
Knowing where the buoys/weather station are with regards to the topography is helpful. For example: One of the sites that is close to where I sail is protected from the south so the wind readings are artificially low. I compare to 2 or 3 nearby NDBC sites and judge which is most accurate based on direction. One of those is ~25 miles or so off shore so that gives the dominant direction. Another is on an island with North and Northwest obstructions.
As I understand it, there are three independent weather forecasting entities, and all forecasters base their predictions on these three models, hence the occasional variances...having said that, I'm a fan of http://www.sailflow.com and http://www.usairnet.com...
A person on shore uses the radar display from Intellicast to track the threat of lightning from thunderstorms during our Summer races. Intellicast radar has less of a lag than other weather websites. You have to refresh the Internet connecton every 30 minutes which is annoying.
I like weatherunderground, it has links to marine information and aviation weather as well as tropical. Several big picture screens also for fronts, satellite, etc. Also for $5 per year you can get rid of the ads.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Merrick</i> <br />I like weatherunderground, it has links to marine information and aviation weather as well as tropical. Several big picture screens also for fronts, satellite, etc. Also for $5 per year you can get rid of the ads. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"> Merrick, I am with you. I have 4 or 5 on my IPhone but noticed they are way off, with the exception of Weatherground. Just the other day, 4 reports said it was 75 while Westherground was the only one who correctly pronounced the temp at 69. That was pretty significant. Steve A
I use the local NOAA radio forcast. However, the last time we raced Lake Superior their forcast was for a small craft advisory, which, for racing, is not overly bad. Half way through the first leg however, the wind jumped to 35 with higher gusts and waves to 5 feet. Since I was sailing alone I decided to reef the main and genny and head home. The boat handled it very well although thoughts of broken rigging were in the back of my mind. My scariest moment was when the bow was buried in a large wave, right up to the mast. Anyway, it took four long hours to get back. Will I trust NOAA again? Sure, but not as a sole source.
Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ. The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.