East Coast Weather?

[Little Rascal]

We are visiting the Orwell for a week in August with my little Europa, hoping to get to the Deben, the Ore/Alde or the Backwaters... and maybe if all goes well: the Wallet to Brightlingsea.

I just wondered if there is any particular weather forecast that has proved reliable for the area? I won't have internet access on the water so it will be either a phonecall home (24 hour internet relay by personal weather slave ) or good old LW radio. I usually check the Met Office and XC.

I'm particularly interested in what to expect outside (especially without having to commit to the Deben and Ore entrances to look )

So what sites do you use? Or any other ways of getting a good forecast?

Cheers!
Jon

 

[johnalison]

Locally, we tend just to listen to the Thames Coastguard reports, though it can be too general to be helpful. If I have access to Wifi I use Passageweather.com as it shows the differences across the area and the forecast for up to a week can be helpful if you bear in mind the possibility of changes.

The Deben and Ore entrances are famous for being dodgy, but in the sort of weather you will be wanting to go out in they are unlikely to give a problem. A southeasterly wind is unusual in this area and seldom stays long. Onshore gales are going to keep you in the pub anyway. I don't see a strong easterly coming soon.

 

[Behome]

XC Weather & Magicseaweed plus your own judgement.

 

[sailorman]

XC Weather & Magicseaweed plus your own judgement.

seaweed doesnt cover that area

 

[MoodySabre]

I'm a fan of windguru. As it for windsurfers then it is coastal with lots of locations. Windfinder is a similar format.

 

[Behome]

Mseaweed, I usually check Southwold and Southend depending whether in N or S of area. Don't trust Met office.

 

[Colvic Watson]

Last two weeks of East Coast holiday cruising has seen the CG met office forecast spot on. It's always seems a bit on the pessimistic side, I guess because it covers up to 12 miles offshore.

 

[ex-Gladys]

CG only give Met Office Inshore waters forecast which has been pessimistic... Except Saturday we were told S3-4 and saw it blowing up to 28kts true (7). There are only a few organisations big enough to crunch the numbers for modern forecasts, and the ones generally available are Met Office (of course), GFS, and WRF and many of the sites just use one of the latter - WIndguru does GFS and WRF 9km and 27km forecasts for example. I use WIndguru, Metoffice, XCWeather and observations from Walton and Frinton Lifeboat, Brightlingsea SC, and Dabhicks and WMYC Weather stations

 

[PaulGooch]

XC weather has always worked reasonably well for me.

 

[nortada]

Guru v Finder

I'm a fan of windguru. As it for windsurfers then it is coastal with lots of locations. Windfinder is a similar format.

Agree Guru can be slightly pessimistic, Finder optimistic so give a good balance. Finder 3 day can differ widely from 7 day which is hard to understand. Any thoughts?

 

[Little Rascal]

Thanks guys, I had considered using Magic Seaweed for swell heights - anyone compared that against reality?

I like XC for it's detail but it's harder to relay an overall picture over the phone - hence using the Met inshore waters forecast...

 

[Ianqv]

Another vote for Guru and XC weather!! - Ifind these sites normally get pretty close to what is going on

The site I think is probably wrong the most (and is often down or just gives obsurd predictions) is metcheck!!

Ian

 

[ianfr]

We tend to use a mixture of WindGuru and XC Weather. Picking the average between the two usually

Depending on where we are going, and how long the trip is will bias the estimates to caution or gung ho quite a lot!

Regards

Ian & Jo