Quay Marina Weather Stations

[Porthandbuoy]

Probably been posted before, but here's a link to what the weather is doing today at Rhu. Scroll down to the bottom of the page.

Rhu Marina Weather Station

There are links to other Quay marinas and their weather stations as well.

Anyone have links to similar live data around the coast?

 

[Flossdog]

Assume everyone knows about this site?

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/

 

[Twister_Ken]

Probably been posted before, but here's a link to what the weather is doing today at Rhu. Scroll down to the bottom of the page.

Rhu Marina Weather Station

There are links to other Quay marinas and their weather stations as well.

Anyone have links to similar live data around the coast?

Bramble Bank, and Chichester entrance. Both well known in these parts. Also Cowes Harbour Weather (but it's sometimes offline)

http://www.bramblemet.co.uk/

http://www.chimet.co.uk/

http://www.cowesharbourweather.com/weather/

 

[[2574]]

Plymouth area met stations

http://www.polruan-nci.org.uk/weatherpage.htm

http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/metnet

 

[onesea]

http://www.weather-file.com/yarmouth/index.htm
http://www.weather-file.com/lymington/graph.htm
http://www.weather-file.com/highcliffe/graph.htm
http://www.weather-file.com/hurst/graph.htm

 

[franksingleton]

All weather information can be useful. There are several sources listed at http://weather.mailasail.com/Franks-Weather/Latest-Weather-Actuals-Near-Uk-Waters#internet.

My (slight) hang-up with the various "private" sites listed is that the user is never sure about standards of maintenance and siting. In other words, how consistent are they compared to "officially maintained" weather stations? Also, as with all weather observations they tell you what is happening NOW at a particular point and NOT what will happen some distance away at a later time.

Perhaps, when the dust and alcoholic haze of the New Year has died down, I should collate all the places referred to and any more into one geographically ordered page.

 

[onesea]

All weather information can be useful. There are several sources listed at http://weather.mailasail.com/Franks-Weather/Latest-Weather-Actuals-Near-Uk-Waters#internet.

My (slight) hang-up with the various "private" sites listed is that the user is never sure about standards of maintenance and siting. In other words, how consistent are they compared to "officially maintained" weather stations? Also, as with all weather observations they tell you what is happening NOW at a particular point and NOT what will happen some distance away at a later time.

Perhaps, when the dust and alcoholic haze of the New Year has died down, I should collate all the places referred to and any more into one geographically ordered page.

Agree sort off ish, then at the same time many of the official sites have similar problems, Ronaldsway comes to mind the IOM if the wind is form the NW it reads less if I recall correct (do not quote me) there is mountain in way.

I often use them as I do not have wind gear on the boat. Even if I did it is nice to see how windy it really is before going to the boat. Also it can give you actual local conditions before you set off in set places. You can then look to the forecast to see what might happen there...

 

[franksingleton]

Agree sort off ish, then at the same time many of the official sites have similar problems, Ronaldsway comes to mind the IOM if the wind is form the NW it reads less if I recall correct (do not quote me) there is mountain in way.

I often use them as I do not have wind gear on the boat. Even if I did it is nice to see how windy it really is before going to the boat. Also it can give you actual local conditions before you set off in set places. You can then look to the forecast to see what might happen there...

Agreed. I did say

Also, as with all weather observations they tell you what is happening NOW at a particular point and NOT what will happen some distance away at a later time.

My main problem is the standard of maintenance and equipment. They may well be good. I do not know. "Official" sites are subject to regular checks and continual quality monitoring.

Personally, I am not a big fan of actuals. They can be misleading to the unwary. I am sure that many experienced sailors use them with care. I know only too well that others do not.

Chimet may tell you that it is OK over the bar now. It will not tell you what it will be like three hours later when the ebb has got going.

Having said that, I will give some thought to a listing of these unofficial sites.

 

[Lady Campanula]

Personally, I am not a big fan of actuals. They can be misleading to the unwary. I am sure that many experienced sailors use them with care.....

Having said that, I will give some thought to a listing of these unofficial sites.

That would be very helpful, and appreciated.

I, and many of my sailing contemporaries, do make use of weather 'Actual Reports' ( ARs ) as we had been taught as RAF aircrew, to augment the Terminal Airfield Forecasts ( TAFs ) we secured at pre-flight briefings and carried with us. The updated weather 'Actuals', sought and received en route by radio, helped us make better-informed decisions about the speed of movement of weather features - frontal systems, fog formation and clearance, change of wind direction, etc - and thus about which airfields might be needed as weather diversions should the destination field be 'out' due to changing weather outside various Limitations.

This process of keeping the options under review was standard practice, and an essential part of good airmanship.

I use the same process these days to glean a slightly better-informed idea of what's 'Actually' happening an hour or so upwind. When I'm around Plymouth, say, and looking to head west towards Newlyn or the Isles of Scilly, it is very helpful to know from a phone call to the National Coastwatch Institution team at Bass Point or [URL="http://www.nci.org.uk/gwennaphead?q=node/259"]Gwennap Head[/URL] that e.g. the wind has veered, the barometric pressure has started to rise, the rain has stopped.... or that the wind has backed into the south and increased in the past hour from 20 knots to 35, gusting 45.

I certainly agree with the OP that limited, outdated information in the hands of the unwary can be misleading. I try to be one of the wary ones.....

 

[onesea]

That would be very helpful, and appreciated.......

I certainly agree with the OP that limited, outdated information in the hands of the unwary can be misleading. I try to be one of the wary ones.....

+1

 

[franksingleton]

That would be very helpful, and appreciated.
......
)

Thank you. I will see what I can get together and will no doubt come back and ask for favourite sites.

Your views are shared by many and I respect them. Despite my own views, it was due, at least in part, to my urging that the Met Office produced its page of marine actuals updated hourly - http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/marine/observations/index.html.

The use of TAFs and METARs by aircrew is a little different from use of actuals by sailors because of the different timescales. But, used wisely, I have no doubt that some will find them useful sometimes. I do worry when I hear someone saying, "I always use actuals rather than forecasts because I believ in them." Not sensible on a Channel crossing, I suggest.

If you can get hold of the Autumn 2011 edition of the RIN newsletter, "Fairway", you will see an article that I wrote on the subject of HMCG providing weather actuals.

 

[franksingleton]

That would be very helpful, and appreciated.

...........

I have had a go at compiling a list of automatic weather stations around the British Isles. Please see http://weather.mailasail.com/Franks-Weather/Unofficial-Weather-Actuals.

I have only got Rhu in Scotland, nothing from Ireland, Nothing from NW England and little up the east coast north of the Wash.

Can anyone add to or correct my list?

I suggest that PM mught be best but leave it to personal choice.