How About a Weather Forum ?

[serah]

Perhaps it could take the form of choosing a passage, and following and predicting the weather for a set time, such as a week, or however long it would take to make the passage. Legs like Florida to BVI, Marqueses to Tahiti etc. Everyone can follow along with their own downloaded GRIBs and other data, and come back to the forum to assess...

I'm brand new to this weather thing, and would love to have a way to test projections against what's actually happening... and have others to discuss it with.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Adax

it is likely going to be dfficult to keep up a weather forum - not enough Brits aboard to keep the threads going

Seriously though ,great idea. Lots of info around that gets lost in the wider world of the forum.

... from Hoi n de Poloi's

[franksingleton]

I do not mond answering general queries about weather and weather forecasts. I would not want to talk about local weather - ie weather in a particular locality unless I have been there and know the area..

I am not a great browser of websites or forums but will react to queries addressed to me.

Meanwhile any queries from my site - Frank Singleton's Weather and Sailing Pages / Franks-Weather | The Weather Window?

[simonmd]

Latest from Duquesa, southern Spain, light easterly winds and a thunderstorm. For the rest of the world i'll quote from the film, Good Morning Vietnam - "You got a window? OPEN IT!"

[feelsgood]

Originally Posted by capngeo

Might be a great place to post up hurricane/storm related goodies!

I totaly agree: so here goes
Here is the weather for todayWEDNESDAY 26TH jAN 2011 IN Morlaix Brittany:
Wind NE42 knots
Weather Rain in showers getting lighter as the night goes on.
Tomorrow 27th Jan 2011:
Weather Rai with winds F9 NE temp 2degs C.

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by franksingleton

I do not mond answering general queries about weather and weather forecasts. I would not want to talk about local weather - ie weather in a particular locality unless I have been there and know the area..

I am not a great browser of websites or forums but will react to queries addressed to me.

Meanwhile any queries from my site - Frank Singleton's Weather and Sailing Pages / Franks-Weather | The Weather Window?

A hearty welcome to CF Frank… I have read thru your weather site…. Very nicely done!

I remember years ago being taught that weather forecasting is the “science of variables”, so I am not sure if any conclusive information can come out of a weather forum.

As Frank says… “For anyone sailing, understanding and knowing how best to use forecasts is the real problem”

I totally agree.

I recently started a Thread :

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...d-52972-3.html

and was a bit disappointed that this did not generate a lively discussion about various weather strategies.

Perhaps a “weather forum” would be a better place to discuss that key aspect.

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by franksingleton

Meanwhile any queries from my site - Frank Singleton's Weather and Sailing Pages / Franks-Weather | The Weather Window?

Frank,

I've been a fan of your site since I first stumbled across it over five years ago. I can't begin to thank you enough for the information there, or express my appreciation for the incredible effort you must have expended to put it together.

Thank you.

sail fast and eat well, dave
HR40 #68

[MoonlightShadow]

Originally Posted by Adax

it is likely going to be dfficult to keep up a weather forum - not enough Brits aboard to keep the threads going

Seriously though ,great idea. Lots of info around that gets lost in the wider world of the forum.

I dunno about that Adax.

Here is a forecast from England: It is raining. Grey skies. Its cold. Its truly miserable.

Tomorrow: It will be just as crappy as it is today.

Just how many ways ARE there Adax, for saying the weather here is horrible?

On a seriousl note; I think a Weather section would be really interesting.

[simonmd]

Latest from the Costa Del Sol,

Gale force winds (bad enough for the marina to be closed) and rain for the past week, winds dropped now but more rain forcast. I want a refund!!

[SaucySailoress]

OK - so here's the forecast for Kuwait today: Sunny
OK - so here's the forecast for Kuwait tomorrow: Sunny
OK - so here's the forecast for Kuwait next month: Sunny

[SaucySailoress]

Weather patterns in Kuwait:

On weekdays when it's important to get the commercial diving done: WINDY.
On weekends when it's important to go sailing: CALM.

[MoonlightShadow]

OK Saucy, you are making me jealous already.

But, I read somewhere, that if you are too happy, the dopamine or something in the brain gradually diminishes the happiness that you get from too much good weather and eventually you get depresed and want it to rain and be thoroughly miserable like it is here at the moment.

Well, yeah, I know. I found it hard to believe too.

[atoll]

try google nogaps weather,gets you into usnavy public site

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by High Heels

He drove home the fact that mariners should be able to read weather analysis charts produced by the NWS.

Yep. And they do not have to be NWS.

The challenge is how to get them offshore when they could count most.

For inshore we are always in reach of other sources that do not have to be interpreted by us - the VHF, Sirius, FM or mobile Internet and the wx info contained therein.

b.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by High Heels

...

I bought Lee's book and have started to dig in a bit. The 500 Mb charts are what I am finding so interesting, and new concepts like understanding the mid level atmospheric conditions and how they affect the lower level, surface conditions...

The 500 level data is in fact one of the components of a forecast. Now its (sole) use for a boater is limited as it requires analysis which is often beyond the know-how and tooling of an average boater. E.g. they have to be overlaid on respective surface charts to draw conclusions. Then again, since the upper air data is analyzed by weather models the 500 level data IS in fact included in the forecast charts.

Sure thing, learning about the 500 level charts (and also other level charts), though not necessary, will not hurt.

Another thing, which you did not mention, but which you and others might be interested in, is the patterns of s.c. local weather.

Though it is believed that it takes a local to tell the local weather (which is an urban legend and quite often a completely false one), actually there is a number of generic features (like e.g. the land and sea breezes, the funnel effects, the windward vs. lee weather phenomena) that are also well worth studying by anybody both at the level of club racing and for those planning ocean passages.

Yep. There is a lotta ;-) And then come the various grades of engine oil, the properties of Spectra ropes, the differences between the propane and the butane ... ;-)

Sailing can be amazingly educative pastime.

barnie