Does anybody keep Synoptic Charts?

[[70521]]

As the title says, does anybody keep Synoptic Charts? I've had this conversation with staff from the Met Office, turns out they don't keep historic Synoptic Charts online as they 'provide the service to the MCA'. A fascinating and very technical conversation.

I use @franksingleton 's wonderful saildocs site to capture the shipping forecast and inshore forecast, but not worked out how to capture the Synoptic Chart does anybody routinely copy charts from the internet, if so how do they do it.

 

[Skylark]

I use the met office site for surface charts.

On my phone, I simply screen grab and file as a photo for the period required. I do the same for xcweather days.

Delete all after the passage has been completed.

 

[Minerva]

I don't keep them as a matter of course, but when sailing for more than a weekend I turn on the SSB which then is plugged into a tablet running 'SeaTTY'. This decodes and stores individual synoptic charts as images automatically.

No reason why you couldn't have this set up & running constantly to do what you are aiming for.

 

[[70521]]

No reason why you couldn't have this set up & running constantly to do what you are aiming for.

I don't have SSB or a satellite phone. Tying to capture the charts while out of mobile phone range for several days.

Currently, I can check the shipping forecast against actual but want to extend this to looking at the charts.

 

[Neeves]

I might be being obtuse - but why do you want to have access to synoptic charts - historically (especially as you cannot access them at the time?) Find a friend to capture them for you - download when you exit the 20th century (suddenly it sounds attractive) and return to the real world.

Jonathan

 

[DFL1010]

You can go back to 1998 with the met office on wetterzentrale.

Or, they have noaa stuff going back to 1836 there.

There's also NOAA's data access portal - I haven't played with that recently so can't remember how useful it'll be, but being US Gov't it'll be there somewhere.

 

[[70521]]

I might be being obtuse - but why do you want to have access to synoptic charts - historically (especially as you cannot access them at the time?) Find a friend to capture them for you - download when you exit the 20th century (suddenly it sounds attractive) and return to the real world.

Simples, I am interested in weather. This summers wee voyage will take me away from a mobile phone signal and I would not impost that task on a friend as they have their own life to live.

 

[[70521]]

You can go back to 1998 with the met office on wetterzentrale.

Or, they have noaa stuff going back to 1836 there.

There's also NOAA's data access portal - I haven't played with that recently so can't remember how useful it'll be, but being US Gov't it'll be there somewhere.

BRILLIANT - THANK YOU.

Next time you are in Plymouth let me buy you a beer.

 

[Minerva]

I don't have SSB or a satellite phone. Tying to capture the charts while out of mobile phone range for several days.

Currently, I can check the shipping forecast against actual but want to extend this to looking at the charts.

Sounds like the exact reason I bought a Nasa SSB! Got walloped by an unexpected stiff blow in a wind against tide going around Rubha Hunish in the Minch the other year after a couple of days with no mobile signal...

 

[Neeves]

Buoy Weather offer a forecast and also offer a chart of what actually happened - but I only used it once about 10 years ago - and forget the procedure. As with Minerva we took a forecast of max 35 knots, to cross Bass Strait, and then when it was too late to turn back it was blowing 40 knots and topped out at 55 knots for 11 hours. We wanted to know why. We were in a micro cell too small to be forecast and it moved at roughly the same speed we did (I spoke to the local Oz Bureau Of Met in Tassie and discussed the issue - I think a bit more personal than the service you can get).

Here in Oz - most libraries hold printed news print for a period of time. Freely available.

Jonathan

 

[[2574]]

Sounds like the exact reason I bought a Nasa SSB! Got walloped by an unexpected stiff blow in a wind against tide going around Rubha Hunish in the Minch the other year after a couple of days with no mobile signal...

We’ve been to Skye and back this summer and have been surprised at how good 4g has been, Rona being the exception, weak there. But we rely on Navtex for where 4g fails. Like others above I screen grab forecasts and store as photos if I know I’m sailing back in to the last century.

 

[Minerva]

We’ve been to Skye and back this summer and have been surprised at how good 4g has been, Rona being the exception, weak there. But we rely on Navtex for where 4g fails. Like others above I screen grab forecasts and store as photos if I know I’m sailing back in to the last century.

4g reception is getting better every year, I agree.

The nasa ssb and tablet system I have set up cost little, both in Watts and ££ - it just sits there silently 24/7 during cruises collecting weather charts I can check on each morning & evening. The nasa radios often get sold for £40ish second hand.

As a bonus point, it showing the ice extent around Svalbard and Greenland makes me feel a little more intrepid

 

[KompetentKrew]

I have a perl script which downloads synoptic charts from this page and uploads them to my Google Drive. It runs every hour on my Linode.

If you give more information about what you're trying to do and the computing resources available to you, maybe I can suggest something.

 

[[70521]]

I have a perl script which downloads synoptic charts from this page and uploads them to my Google Drive. It runs every hour on my Linode.

If you give more information about what you're trying to do and the computing resources available to you, maybe I can suggest something.

Thanks for the offer @KompetentKrew. @DFL1010 has given me a solution.

This is what I am trying to achieve

I blog my sailing adventures, to look back on when I eventually swallow the anchor, and as part of the daily entry I post the Met Office shipping forecast for the sea area I sailing in - which led me to think, perhaps I could add a Synoptic Chart in future. I've been looking at Synoptic Chart posted at Mountain Weather Information Service which is fine if you are coastal, have a mobile phone signal and can manually capture the GIF file.

I am about to do a 900 nm offshore passage and will be unable to manually capture the file. Following the passage I'll be writing up the log in electronic format from written records, pictures taken, the emailed Shipping Forecasts from the Saildocs and now Synoptic Charts from the link that @DFL1010 has kindly provided.

With www.wetterzentrale.de I can add all the historic Synoptic Charts I need and take a look at many more.

 

[ionbard]

Where do you blog, Sandy? Interested to follow, especially the 900nm trip.

 

[[70521]]

Where do you blog, Sandy? Interested to follow, especially the 900nm trip.

I'm not sure that the world, apart from a few friends and family, is ready for my ramblings. I might do a @Concerto and post an account here.

 

[Laser310]

Simples, I am interested in weather. This summers wee voyage will take me away from a mobile phone signal and I would not impost that task on a friend as they have their own life to live.

NOAA has analyses going back quite a long time

but if you are asking for recent analyses.., the NOAA Unified Surface Analysis page has links to the analyses going back 14 days for the whole globe - just click on the main chart and it will open the more detailed chart

Unified Surface Analysis

also, the Unified Surface Analysis Manual - link on that page is a great resource

also the NOAA Ocean Prediction center has 14 days of analyses and forecasts - for their areas of interest

Ocean Prediction Center - Atlantic Marine

Another option is to download the ECMWF Reanalysis - this is an hourly reanalysis in Grib or NC format. It's not really an "analysis" in the traditional sense, as it is produced by a model in the same way the forecast is produced.., rather than by a human.., but it is pretty useful.

I use a python script to get the reanalysis.., but i think you can get it via a web interface.

 

[Frank Holden]

In Australia the last 22 years or so are available here
http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/charts/archive/index.shtml

Edit - apart from Straya also has Indian Ocean and South Pacific.