Recently I found myself looking on the internet for a weather forecast. Using my mobile phone I did a google search and within a minute I was looking at a nice hour by hour wind forecast. The internet is a great way of finding out the weather and I thought I would try and share with you some of the sites I have come across.

Met Office

The Met Office has for a long time been a sailors friend issuing the shipping forecast. The forecast is broadcast by the MCA and also broadcast on Radio 4. If you can’t wait for a broadcast and have access to the internet then the shipping forecast is also available 24/7 on the Met Office website.

 http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/marine/shipping_forecast.html 

For coastal forecasts the Met Office also issues an inshore waters forecast. The inshore waters are divided into large regions and a forecast for the whole northern ireland coast is available.

If you are after just a general forecast including precipitation and temperatures then the Met Office also provides a 5 day forecast.

For those that fancy themselves as a keen meterologist then the Met office also generates synoptic charts. They are posted on the Met Office website with an animation that allows browsers to see how the systems are moving.

Unfortunately print-outs are not publically available on the Met Office website, however, they are on other websites. A dutch website provides the current Met Office synoptic chart and also the predicted charts up to 5 days in advance.

NOAA Ocean Prediction Centre

The American equivalent to the Met Office offer their synoptic charts also and they are available for free for the East Atlantic. They can be found on their website along with charts for the Central and Western Atlantic if you fancy long range predicting.

Theyr.com

One of the webs favourite weather prediction websites. Theyr.com used to be a free website and has been used for a long time by sailing professionals. They now charge for full ‘pro’ access, however they do still provide a cut-down version for free.

This website is my personal favourite despite not having the fancy maps which the other site offer. This website is used extensively by windsurfers and kitesurfers, however is also perfect for coastal sailors and dinghy sailors. The website provides all the information you need for free and has hour by hour predictions.