NAVTEX weather lingo

[steve77]

We installed our Furuno NAVTEX receiver before leaving the states, and truthfully haven't used it much to this point. We will be leaving Smir, Morocco tomorrow and heading into the Med, and I plan to use it a lot more from this point on.

Today's report from Tarifa (Spain) has some words that I don't quite understand. The report reads, in part, "TEMPO MOD, OCNL POOR". Is "TEMPO" visibility?

Further on in the forecast, I see "ALGERIA: VRB 2 TO 4. SMOOTH, TEMPO SLGT IN E. ISOL SHWRS AT END." I guess this means variable winds force 2-4. Also something about isolated rain showers at the end. Beyond that, I really can't make much of this part of the broadcast.

Finally, I read "AGADIR: W OR NW 4 OR 5. SLGT OR MOD TEMPO IN NW, NW 3 M SWELL. ISOL SHWRS OR RAIN." I understand the parts about the wind and rain, but the text in the middle totally baffles me.

Note - I'm not going to Algeria, but am using this broadcast solely for illustration.

Any NAVTEX translators out there? Thanks!

Steve

[paulajayne]

The Navtex Archive - www.navtex.net


NAVTEX Weather Broadcasts for Europe & the Mediterranean - Franks-Weather - The Weather Window

Should help

[ka4wja]

Steve,
No worries....like most US sailors, it takes a bit to "get" NAVTEX (and SafetyNET) messages, as they have their own peculiarities...

1) First off, "TEMPO" means "temporary" or "temporarily"....
And, the other stuff you're not "getting" is mostly the sea state forecast, mainly because you're not aware of how NAVTEX, SafetyNET, UK Shipping forecasts, etc. are formatted/sent....(don't worry, most of my fellow US sailors don't know either...


2) Secondly, please read all the NAVTEX abbreviations on the GMDSS Weather page....
OMM-JCOMM-GMDSS / World Marine Weather Forecast



(I assume you don't have the Furuno manual???)




And, I'll post 'em all here:

N North/Northerly
NE Northeast/Northeasterly
E East/Easterly
SE Southeast/Southeasterly
S South/Southerly
SW Southwest/Southwesterly
W West/Westerly
NW Northwest/Northwesterly


BACK Backing
BECMG Becoming
BLDN Building
C-FRONT Cold Front
DECR Decreasing
DPN Deepening
EXP Expected
FCST Forecast
FLN Filling
FLW Following
FM From
FRQ Frequent
HPA Hectopascal
HVY Heavy
IMPR Improving/Improve
INCR Increasing
INTSF Intensifying/Intensify
ISOL Isolated
KMH km/h KT Knots
LAT/LONG Latitude/Longitude
LOC Locally
M Meters
MET Meteo…
MOD Moderate
MOV Moving/Move
NC No change
NM Nautical miles
NOSIG No significant change
NXT Next
OCNL Occasionally
O-FRONT Occlusion Front
POSS Possible
PROB Probability/Probable
QCKY Quickly
QSTNR Quasi-Stationary
QUAD Quadrant
RPDY Rapidly
SCT Scattered
SEV Severe
SHWRS Showers
SIG Significant
SLGT Slight
SLWY Slowly
STNR Stationary
STRG Strong
TEMPO Temporarily/Temporary
TEND Further outlooks
VEER Veering
VIS Visibility
VRB Variable
W-FRONT Warm Front
WKN Weakening


Sea States:

Smooth
Wave height less than 0.5 m

Slight
Wave height of 0.5 to 1.25 m

Moderate
Wave height of 1.25 to 2.5 m

Rough
Wave height of 2.5 to 4.0 m

Very rough
Wave height of 4.0 to 6.0 m

High
Wave height of 6.0 to 9.0 m

Very high
Wave height of 9.0 to 14.0 m

Phenomenal
Wave height more than 14.0 m




3) Third...
Here is this morning's NAVTEX broadcast from Tarifa...and my "plain English" translation...

FQMQ72 LEMM 130600
STATE MET AGENCY OF SPAIN

TARIFA NAVTEX SERVICE AREA

ISSUED AT 0800 UTC ON THURSDAY 13 OCTOBER 2016

VALID UNTIL SATURDAY 15 AT 0800 UTC


GALE OR NEAR GALE WARNINGS: ALBORAN, PALOS, ALGERIA.

GENERAL SYNOPSIS AT 00 UTC THURSDAY 13 AND EVOLUTION.

LOW NW IBERIAN PENINSULA 1002 SPREADING W MEDITERRANEAN AND MOV
SLWY TOWARDS E.

24 HOURS FCST

SAO VICENTE: NW 4 OR 5. SLGT, LOC MOD. ISOL SHWRS OR RAIN. AREAS
OF TEMPO MOD.

CADIZ: W OR SW 4 OR 5, OCNL 6. SLGT, TEMPO MOD. RAIN AND SHWRS,
OCNL THUNDERSTORM AT FIRST. AREAS OF TEMPO MOD.


GIBRALTAR STRAIT: W 4 OR 5, OCNL 6. SLGT, TEMPO MOD. RAIN AND
SHWRS, OCNL THUNDERSTORM AT FIRST. AREAS OF TEMPO MOD.
In general, this translates to plain English:
West wind, force 4 or 5, with occasionally force 6.
Seas "slight" (0.5m to 1.25m) with "temporary moderate" (1.25m to 2.5m).
Rain and showers, occasionally Thunderstorms during early part of forecast period. Areas of temporary moderate rain.


ALBORAN: VRB 3 TO 5, INCR W 6 IN THE AFTERNOON, LOC 7 FM
MIDNIGHT. SMOOTH OR SLGT, BECMG MOD LOC ROUGH. SHWRS AND ISOL
THUNDERSTORMS.
In general, this translates to plain English:
Wind variable, force 3 to force 5, increasing westerly to force 6 in the
afternoon, locally force 7 starting from midnight.
Seas smooth (< 0.5m) or slight (0.5m to 1.25m), becoming moderate (1.25m to 2.5m) and locally rough (2.5 to 4m).
Showers and isolated thunderstorms.



PALOS: W AND SW 4 TO 6, LOC 7 FM MIDNIGHT. MOD OR ROUGH. SHWRS
AND ISOL THUNDERSTORMS.

ALGERIA: W OR NW 3 OR 4 INCR W OR SW 5 OR 6, LOC 7 FM MIDNIGHT.
SMOOTH BECMG MOD OR ROUGH. ISOL SHWRS OR THUNDERSTORMS.

AGADIR: NW 4 OR 5 DECR 3 OR 4. SMOOTH OR SLGT, LOC MOD IN W AT
FIRST. NW 3 M SWELL IN FAR NW AT FIRST. ISOL SHWRS.

CASABLANCA: W OR NW 4 OR 5, OCNL 6 AT FIRST, DECR 3 OR 4. MOD,
BECMG SMOOTH OR SLGT. NW 3 M SWELL IN W, DECR. RAIN AND SHWRS,
OCNL THUNDERSTORM IN FAR NE AT FIRST. TEMPO MOD.=

4) Specifics in red...

Originally Posted by steve77

Today's report from Tarifa (Spain) has some words that I don't quite understand. The report reads, in part, "TEMPO MOD, OCNL POOR". Is "TEMPO" visibility?
TEMPO = Temporary or Temporarily
So, this excerpt would mean: Temporarily Moderate, occasionally poor. (but, I don't see this sentence in the forecast...I assume your just picking up some individual words that are confusing??? You should read the whole forecast, and you'll grasp it easier than just picking out a few words...)

Further on in the forecast, I see "ALGERIA: VRB 2 TO 4. SMOOTH, TEMPO SLGT IN E. ISOL SHWRS AT END." I guess this means variable winds force 2-4. Also something about isolated rain showers at the end. Beyond that, I really can't make much of this part of the broadcast.
Algeria:
Variable winds, force 2 to force 4.
Seas smooth (<0.5m), temporarily slight (0.5m to 1.25m) in eastern.
Isolated showers at end of forecast period.


Finally, I read "AGADIR: W OR NW 4 OR 5. SLGT OR MOD TEMPO IN NW, NW 3 M SWELL. ISOL SHWRS OR RAIN." I understand the parts about the wind and rain, but the text in the middle totally baffles me.
Agadir:
Winds, west or Northwest, force 4 or force 5.
Seas slight (0.5m to 1.25m) or moderate (1.25m to 2.5m) temporarily in northwest, with 3m swell in northwest area.
Isolated showers or rain.


Note - I'm not going to Algeria, but am using this broadcast solely for illustration.

Any NAVTEX translators out there? Thanks!

Steve

I hope the above helps....

Fair winds...

John

[steve77]

Thanks, John. From PaulaJayne's post, I found out that "TEMPO" meant "Temporarily", but the puzzle piece I was missing is that the second sentence is understood to be about sea state. Now I got it.

Thanks very much for the detailed response.

Steve