Everybody talks about the weather
but nobody does anything about it.
-Mark Twain-
Why don't the bastards give us the weather forecast?
The Baltic Sea - dispite being one of the most polluted seas in the world - is enjoyed by hundreds of cruising yachts. Thousands of local boaties sail their home waters and many extend their cruise to cover the eight countries that line the shores. The weather in the Baltic can be difficult. The area is under the influence of low pressure systems travelling from the northern Atlantic on an easterly direction. Strong winds are frequent and the weather changes quickly.
For some reason, it is not easy to get weather information here. Sure, there are mobile phone weather, threre are internet resources and so on, but try to get a proper weather forecast when out at sea. No can do. The Swedish (Stockholm Radio), Finnish (Turku Radio) and Estonian (Tallinn Radio) all broadcast a weather bulletin on the VHF. The coverage is good on coastal areas, thanks to repeater stations. But the forecast. Well, it's hardly a forecast.
All marine weather forecasts are valid for 24 hours. That's it. That's all you get. Practically that means that you will hear the weather right now and just after now. They graciously tell you where the highs and lows are but make now mention about the coming weather. Am I alone in this? I have come to know forecast as something that deals with what the weather is going to be in the near future. And I expect a little more than 24 hours. (The forecast read at 2000 was issued in 1600 and therefore valid until 1600 tomorrow, 20 hours)
Cairns
In my years in Cairns, QLD, Australia, I got used to the highest standard of weather forecasting. The forecast is given every two hours and it is being transmitted from the weather bureau, by the people of the weather bureau. They extend the forecast to as far as they can and discuss the weather on the VHF with anyone who wants to call in. They share all the information that they have and give their very best predictions, based on all the data. One would often get an idea of the most likely scenario five days ahead, as well as a proper understanding of why the weather is what it is. In addition, the full weather info is available on the net.
Why is it, that the same is not possible in Finland or Sweden. The popular Foreca website shows five days ahead on certain places - a kind of precision forecast that shows the sun and rain in fancy symbols, the wind direction and temperature etc. But unfortunately knowing the prediction on one particular spot does very little for understanding the weather that affect the area.
So, the real sailors weather sources in the Baltic Sea? Please let me know.
The weather fax from Northwood, UK. Lovely and great when you can get it crispy clean like this one. Unfortunately for the Baltic sailor, the only weather fax available for free on the SSB covers half the Atlantic and pretty much the whole Europe. Can you find Baltic Sea up there?