Weather Center

A compilation of articles, summaries and technical reports on marine weather and another natural phenomena including:

Volcano Alert!
A SetSailor recently sailed onto the scene of a volcanic eruption near Tonga, where he witnessed the birth of a new island. Fredrik Fransson of Maiken has sent us a gripping account with incredible photos of the experience.

 

Indian Ocean Tsunamis Seamanship lessons learned from the tsunamis. Photos of the first ebb and flow off Phi Phi Don Island, Thailand. Initial report and photos from Al and Beth of Sunflower in Langkawi, Malaysia. More from Al and Beth on yacht rescue efforts and marina status. Al and Beth answer our questions on anchoring details with regards to the tsunamis. Report from Gavin and Sukey of Scott-Free in Phuket, Thailand. (Interesting feedback on how the waves behaved in 12m of water.) Quotes from other cruisers in Malaysia and Thailand, with links for more info. Article from John Gray, a sea kayak tour operator who tried to warn others of the tsunamis' approach. Wave simulation. The New York Times has put together a very interesting site with animation showing the wave propogation. (Also some emotionally wrenching photos, which are not for the faint of heart.) Tsunami relief - links to aid organizations. Stay tuned. We're continuing to accumulate info, and will soon put together an analysis of some early lessons learned.

• Local Knowledge
  Here's a PDF file containing a list of Port Meteorological Officers in countries all over the world, with their contact info. These folks are a great resource for data on local weather and conditions.
  
  
• Spring Passage from Fiji/Tonga to New Zealand
  One of the toughest passages to figure out weatherwise is from the tropical islands of the South Pacific to New Zealand. There are several hundred boats getting ready to depart Fiji and Tonga just about now, and they are all discussing strategy, watching faxes, and checking their boats. Here's an exchange of e-mails between a cruiser in Tonga, SetSail's Steve Dashew, and Bob McDavitt, the ultimate South Pacific weather guru (who works for the New Zealand Met service).
  
  
• Get Background Info on Marine Weather Forecasts
  We've recently discovered a valuable new resource. You can download daily technical discussions from Marine Prediction Center forecasters with the behind-the-scenes thinking that goes into their forecasts. (With updated links as of 27 Sept 04.)
  
  
• Worldwide Marine Radiofacsimile Broadcast Schedules
  This is a PDF file listing weatherfax frequencies and schedules for fax stations around the world (27 Sept 04 - The new schedule has just been posted).
  
  
• Free Guide to Hurricanes in the North Atlantic Basin
  The forecasters at the Tropical Prediction Center have put out a 71-page booklet in PDF format on hurricanes in the North Atlantic Basin. We've just finished reading through it and it is a great resource - an excellent tool to go along with the material in Mariner's Weather Handbook for dealing with hurricanes. (This is a 1.2mb PDF file which will take about 10-12 minutes to download on a 28.8 modem).
  
  
• Tropical to Extratropical Transitions
  Every year a certain number of tropical storms journey into the higher latitudes, where they speed up and grow to enormous proportions, becoming even more dangerous than the hurricane form in which they started. Click here to find out more about this phenomenon (From the May 1999 issue of Blue Water Sailing.)
  
  
• Weather Links
  There are literally thousands of marine-related weather links on the Internet. This information overload makes it difficult to know what sites to visit, unless you have a huge amount of time. Here we've listed our favorite weather sites, divided into categories such as basic weather faxes from around the world, computer forecasts, tropical coverage, current condition reports, satellite data, oceanography sites, and more.
  
  
• Weather FAQs
  We get e-mailed questions daily on a variety of marine-related subjects. Here are the most interesting questions and answers pertaining to weather.