Weather and Sea State Forcasts

[SailSC]

I am planning to do some coastal cruising in SC and GA. I'd be interested to learn where experienced sailors look to find short term weather forecasts and sea states. I'm sure there are thousands of web sites and apps but I bet some are much better than others.

[delmarrey]

Here's the one I use the most.

Sailing Weather - Marine Weather Forecasts for Sailors and Adventurers - PassageWeather

[CapRon]

Thumbs on passage weather. Very reliable and more accurate than most.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[skipmac]

There is also the NOAA weather channels on your marine VHF. For current conditions and short term forecasts I've found that to be reasonably accurate.

[pete33458]

I use both passageweather.com and sailflow.com (I actually much prefer the graphics on the older "old.sailflow.com" and find them both to be very useful. pete

[FSMike]

I'm with skipmac.
For local cruising in that area vhf forecasts are just fine (in addition to poking your head out and looking around lol).

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by FSMike

I'm with skipmac.
For local cruising in that area vhf forecasts are just fine (in addition to poking your head out and looking around lol).

i'm with you on the poke your head out as well.

[Amapola]

We subscribe to XM marine weather.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Amapola

We subscribe to XM marine weather.

So how far offshore does that work? Can you get it into the central or south Bahamas or as far as the Caribbean? What about trans-Atlantic?

[jackdale]

I like the weatherfax web site

Northwest Atlantic WX Briefing Package

Mobile version

NWS Boston Radiofax Charts Mobile Page

[rognvald]

For coastal sailing, we use the ACTUAL hourly wind reports at specific locations provided by NOAA. Generally, we find their PREDICTED wind and wave forecasts to be inaccurate. Then we look at a radar app-- "Raindar" which shows weather systems with vectors for direction and speed. Finally, we listen to local media weather reports to confirm the "general" weather conditions. Coastal sailing is not as complicated as passagemaking since you normally plan for alternate harbors in unpredicted weather and do not have to commit to open water for long periods of time. As a final remark, look to the sky and the direction of the wind since the clouds are an indicator of future weather. Good luck and good sailing.