Weather websites - list of the good ones!!

Ianqv

Ianqv

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After being introduced to another weather website which I did not know existed, I thought it may be a good idea to list out all the weather sites that us East Coasters use to "try" and predict how much rain we can expect each weekend!!! ;)

So… here's the list that I use:

Xcweather
Metcheck (a pretty good site, but is always down!!)
Windguru
Magicseaweed
Essexweather.com (cheers to Steve n Heather for this one)

Ian and Sarah
 
 
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The important thing is to have a wide choice available so that you can choose the most favourable in order to persuade your crew that it's safe to go sailing.
 
Further afield, we've used various national ones, at least via NAVTEX, because you then get several different models (presumably they don't all use the same data) of what is going to hit you. For example, the Belgians, Dutch, German and Brits all give a Thames (and Humber) forecast. If they agree, they are quite likely to be correct. If they differ, as John says, go for the one which suits you!

However, when sailing inshore, only the Met office gives good enough local variation, so we stick with them, plus some of the others above (which are usually just to while away time at work while anticipating the weekend's sailing)!
 
I have found over the last few years on an entirely unscientific basis, that GFS based models have seemed to be better at predictions for the 48 to 72 hr range than the UK met model, or indeed any of the other models.... less than 48hrs seems to be much of a muchness!

So, my preferred source has been windguru... who's format/layout I find to be very user friendly.
 
should also add, that its worth taking a look at what resolution the models are being run on... same source data, but some run at much lower resolution, meaning that less attention is paid to local variations... for example, GFS standard as used by windguru is at 27km, whereas the NOAA model (which still is based on GFS raw data) runs at 50km... there can be a substantial difference....

As AliM points out above, theoretically, the Met Office is best for UK inshore, but over the years I have come to not trust their model very much, so regardless of the resolution, tend to treat it with a degree of caution
 
Agree, have usually found windguru to be most accurate and they were pretty much spot on all of the 3 weeks we were on board.

Except the final day coming back down the Wallet, where the WNW F4 windguru prediction was woefully inaccurate: the SW F5-6+ beat forecast by Mr FC, modelled to a resolution of 1 glass of cognac, was remarkably accurate though.
 
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