SAILING WEATHER ONLINE NEWS
May 15 -
Current Grib Files
The increasing popularity of routing software creates a demand for reliable current information. Global coverage is not yet available but we are happy to provide links to two sources that cover a large part of the European coast. One source is the official German Hydrographic Agency BSH, the other one is maintained by software producer Weather4D that processes the output of the MyOcean ENWS model which is part of the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service.
This tidal information is in grib format and can be used with the routing software of qtVLM, the navigation program OpenCPN or the majority of software that can read grib files.
The results of these files are more accurate than those produced by the harmonic constants method because they also judge the effect of wind and atmospheric pressure.
The current grib files can be found on Sailing Weather Online’s Currents page.
January 30 -
Northwood is back
The weather maps provided by the British Navy are back online!
During the interruption of several weeks it never became clear what the cause or reason was. Because of a noteworthy lack of communications by the British Navy, it was generally assumed that the services of Northwood had ended permanently. The sudden return of both the shortwave transmissions and the website came as a complete surprise to us. We have no idea of its continuity but count our blessings.
The Northwood maps have a new layout and are much less ‘Bracknell inspired’ than before. For reasons also unknown to us, they are now in the unusual and extremely inefficient BMP file format. We share your aversion but can not do anything about it.
You will find the Northwood weather maps again on Sailing Weather Online. There is also a new schedule for the shortwave transmissions. The most recent version can be found on Sailing Weather Online’s Weatherfax page.
May 31 -
MEDITERRANEAN HIGH RESOLUTION GRIB FILES EXTENDED
OpenSkiron.org has extended its WRF coverage of the Mediterranean. In addition to the entire eastern Mediterranean, openWRF now also provides grib files for the Ionian, Adriatic, Italy (including Sardinia and Sicily) and Corsica. As for the other areas the gribs are in 12km and 4km resolution (0.1deg/0.03dec). You can access these files through the HighRes Grib page.
