Online Weather Forecasts

duncan_m

Well-Known Member
Joined
20 Oct 2009
Messages
91
Visit site
Hi all,

Over the last few months of using iphone/blackberrys and laptops while out sailing the one thing that I have always wanted is a site which brought all the other sites together so that I don't have to navigate from site to site.

I couldn't find one, so I made one. Ignoring the obvious of is the forecast worth the paper or in this case the bandwidth:
-What do you think of it? Good/bad/useless?
-Whether there are any other good sources that I should include?
-What other sailing areas I should do this for, if any?
-Do you think it would be worthwhile having weather via sms?

http://www.saild.com/blog/weather-forecasts/solent-weather-forecast/

Thoughts, ideas and criticism all welcomed!

Snowy wishes, Duncan
 
One big problem.

The site deals with some obscure area in southern England. It doesn't deal with anywhere of importance.

Try again.

This is a demonstration rather than a finished article, you'll notice that one of my questions was what areas do you think a site/page like this would be useful for.. RTQ
 
Hi all,

Over the last few months of using iphone/blackberrys and laptops while out sailing the one thing that I have always wanted is a site which brought all the other sites together so that I don't have to navigate from site to site.

I couldn't find one, so I made one. Ignoring the obvious of is the forecast worth the paper or in this case the bandwidth:
-What do you think of it? Good/bad/useless?
-Whether there are any other good sources that I should include?
-What other sailing areas I should do this for, if any?
-Do you think it would be worthwhile having weather via sms?

http://www.saild.com/blog/weather-forecasts/solent-weather-forecast/

Thoughts, ideas and criticism all welcomed!

Snowy wishes, Duncan

been there, done that, see sig.

Alisdair
 
This is a demonstration rather than a finished article, you'll notice that one of my questions was what areas do you think a site/page like this would be useful for.. RTQ

I occasionally use my mobile phone to get the Met Office inshore forecast, but usually use my laptop which has an integral Vodafone SIM card. Perhaps most people are happy with their existing sources of weather info? In general a mobile phone is less convenient and more expensive, for me, than using a laptop. At home I don't even have a mobile phone signal.

For weather info I consult the Met Office, XC Weather, WindGuru and the weather buoys, as well as Navtex. Surely you would run into copyright problems if you try to reproduce these and other sites?
 
Some great links on the Ant Veal's site that I've never seen before, it's a good resource.

On the copyright front a number of sites such as Windguru actively encourage embedding their content as it serves to further promote their services..
 
I began my site by collecting URLs of marine forecasts broadcast under the GMDSS iw those that you should have before going to sea and broadcast on VHF/NAVTEX?HF?MF radio The site then grew a little like Topsy. GRIB arrived around 2000 and ways of getting them have evolved. I cover those. I get questions or hear of them so try to provide some insight into how forecasts are produced and their limitations. I have some pages on communications, an ever evolving topic. I have some pages on Beaufort scales, coastal, winds, sea breezes, etc.

On over all problem is that there is a vast amount of information out there. There are other people who try to collate the available data but it is like hitting a moving target. I have always assumed that people wanting to know about sources of forecasts could visit my site and save those links that they found useful. I am always open to information on links that I do not have and that may fill a gap. Any offers?
 
Top