• Sailing is all about the Weather.

    Big into the exploration of Atlantic Hurricanes since Katrina came uninvited into his world, James (Jim) Gurley (JamesG161) has followed every Tropical Storm birthed in Atlantic, Gulf and Caribbean waters since. Being a boater, he knows that we often need more time to prepare than we get from the TV weather folk. Jim relies on the science of storm development to share early warning info with friends and fellow boaters.

    Early in 2018, Jim and John Shepard, (JSSailem) started to chat about the weather data available. John asked Jim to help forecast Pacific NW storms, and this morphed into discussions on weather forecasting.

    For John, sailing in the PNW is sometimes hit and miss. One day is ugly, then a string of beautiful days but no wind, followed by a series of blue-sky days and 12 knot breezes. Being ready for those great sailing days means you need to look to the Pacific Ocean and what is brewing. John has been into Pacific NW Weather since the 1970’s when his first PNW November storm hit bringing more than 40 days and 40 nights of continual rain.

    Together we want to share information, new APPs, safety, and thoughts about letting the weather help you. Identify some of the resources for sailors and help prepare you for your next sailboat outing.

    It is far better to go out on the water knowing what to expect in weather terms, than to be out on the water and see dark ominous clouds suddenly appear, unprepared.

NOAA new Marine Weather Forecasting Zones

jssailem

jssailem

SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
Oct 22, 2014
22,414
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
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NOAA has been developing its digital systems with the goal of integrating the ACE modeling data into regional forecasting. To accomplish this strategy, they have restructured traditional regions into zones ( NOAA: Zones are divided to identify meteorologically dissimilar areas. Marine Zone Forecasts outline the range of conditions that may be found within the entire zone. The size of a zone and the number of zones within a forecast product is a compromise between forecast accuracy and dissemination limitations.)

Above is an image of the defined Zones map in support of Offshore Marine Text Forecasts for the SW and North Tropical Atlantic and Caribbean Sea. This designated zone structure improves local and regional forecasts by increasing the horizontal and vertical resolution of storm data. This is like Zooming In, on your smart devices.

More details about the NOAA zone development can be found here.

Map of all NWS Marine Forecast and Warning Zones

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Last year, W&F used Invest numbers. For example, Invest 92 L meant the 2nd event in the 9th area in the L sector or At-L-antic region. Really clear?

For the Atlantic Hurricane season, we will focus on the Atlantic Offshore and High Seas Forecast Area. Storm data will use Zone names (i.e. Offshore Waters Forecast for the SW and Tropical N Atlantic and Caribbean Sea Including Synopsis Zones AMZ040-AMZ062) in the forecast.

Please Note that the Areas in Pink are the USA and its territories, with one minor exception the US Virgin Islands.



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More to come on these Zones These areas are still Forecasted on NowCoast, which shows current plots on depths, navigation, and more. [ nowCOAST]

Each zone size was defined for all seasons because marine traffic can report on qualified weather data aboard ships.

The East Pacific and Central Pacific have their Zones too.

More information will be updated here on the W&F as the 2024 Hurricane Season progresses.

Weather and Forecasting
Jim and John
 
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