Reading Weather Condition

[jpster]

Hi,

Can someone shed some light on reading weather conditions along with the sites there use.

At the moment I'm looking at Magic Seaweed, Met Office and BBC weather for tide times.

Problem is I don't know what weather conditions are ok to go out in and at what point should I give it a second thought?

I persume swell with wind driection is the main areas to look at.. but what means good and what means don't bother going out?

Also looking at magic seaweed is hard to read the swell (maybe it's my eyes but I can't always make out the colour key) so is there another place to get swell information?

Cheers

 

[northeast1]

Direction is all i really look for, that swell thing is a waste of time in my opinion, it has never been right when i have been out. Said 0.5ft for today...add about 3ft onto that.

Anything with a west in you have a chance of making it out, straight west best.

NE dont even bother

North or south depending on winds you will get a lazy roll at least.

My opinion...use the MET office for the wind speed as right more than most, use xc for the direction and weather wise put your head out the window

 

[The Great Wallsendo]

In the buildup to your planned trip you need to be looking to make sure the wind has been generally blowing west for the few days building up which should flatten the sea off - any element of East is likely to put a chop on...due North and south, like Richie says, will put a roll on which can still be fishable but it depends how strong your constitution is as personally it's the rolling seas that make me want to hurl (even though I haven't yet ) or whether your confident of occasionally not seeing the horizon as you dip in and out of the troughs...I note your boat has quit a low profile too so this will greatly exaggerate that effect.

I tend to use XC weather for one of the better wind forecasts, but combine with Magic Seaweed to see what they are saying the "lump" will be like...ideal sea conditions would be 3ft swell max and 3mph westerlies if any wind at all.

We went out at the weekend and the wind was 8mph+ WSW/SW with strong gusts at times and the while the sea was not mirror calm it was still pretty comfortable fishing - we even saw a row boat sized vessel with two anglers a mile and a half out from the piers (although I'd never reccomend that personally they seemed "OK") and a number of boats I'd say were similar to yours

I guess it's down to how confident you feel at the helm and I suppose it's a case of putting the miles in under various conditions to test that out

another way to look at it is the conditions required for a great days boat fishing is that they are the exact opposite to those required by a winter Cod hunter

hope some of what I've said makes sense - I know I'm not a "skipper" but I've been a passenger now for quite a few trips...

one more hot tip is that you need to check daily/hourly all of the forecasts even up to the night before the trip (like Rich said in another post they didn't make the call until late the previous night)...even then it still might end up being a case of nudging your head beyond the piers for a quick look and gauging the situation from there

 

[Falcone]

yo john, the 3 weather sites you are using are the ones i generally use, take the 3 of them into account then work out a sort of average.
Like the lads said avoid anything coming off the sea as it normally means its going to be uncomfortable unless they are very light winds.
I always take the tide into account because if you have a say 10mph southerly and a strong ebb tide you will have a very fast drift. if you have wind against tide it means a much slower drift, fishing in 2mph+ drifts isnt ideal when fishing wrecks or big ground as you will incur heavy tackle losses.

best forecasts is wind coming off the land and less than 10mph. if its coming off the sea then you are wanting 6-7 mph or less, thats a general rule i work off for my boat and its sea fairing capabilities.

The day we were out last was great on the morning then blew a hooly on the afternoon, make sure you dont go far if there is wind forecast no matter how calm it seems as it can change very quickly.

 

[canman]

I use gb wind map, it gives the stregnth and direction of any given area around the UK. Just place the arrow from your mouse over the wind arrow on the map and if you left click it, it also shows the weather and wind speeds for all the different times of the day.

 

[northeast1]

Well i called Sat trip off, sea wont be that bad but a strong gusting ENE Wind and persistant rain means i will spend my day doing other indoor tasks

 

[wildcard]

All of that is excellent advice. XC weather is here;

Wind Map - Britain Observations

Alan

 

[northeast1]

Hope the weather man is reading the forecast wrong for the next 7 days, dont think i will use a days leave unless it changes some what

 

[big cod]

To be honest i have given up on magic seaweed there swell predictions are often wrong and they use a weather bouy many miles from the shore if you want present swell height and direction which gives you actuall not predictions i use the cefas weather bouy page whitby faces north and a lot of people get fooled by a lovelly sunny day no wind but you can have a very big northerly swell crashing in which going in and out of the harbour here can be extremly dangerous for the unexperienced with a boat just click on any bouy to get the imformation.

WaveNet Map

paul.

Sea Otter 2 - Whitby Boat Fishing - Charter Boat - Paul Kilpatrick

 

[northeast1]

I agree big_cod think i posted before that it has never been right this year when i have been out.

 

[mick dunn]

we are dupposed to be out Fri at Craster-magic seaweed looks ok-but the skipper has doubts so it must be going to be rough.
Fri
16/07 6am

72% 1.5ft
7secs 18mph 14c
Noon

85% 2.5ft
6secs 11mph 16c
6pm

95% 2ft
7secs 9mph 17
wind looks South East.

 

[northeast1]

Magic sea weed as much use as looking in your bath tub.

Anyway, i still unsure over the weekend, short spell fo west winds but will that be enough to take the lump off caused by them strong SE E winds. Sat seems the ebst day but even when it goes west it says could reach 26mph.

Once again last min call Friday afternoon i think.

 

[dave craig]

Hi mate, I use windguru.com - has always been pretty accurate for me.
Also another thing I do if i havent got time to physically go and have a look at the sea is google 'longsands webcam' this will take you to a website with a regularly updated webcam of longsands beach - it may help you make a judgement on whether or not to go out.

hope this helps

 

[The Great Wallsendo]

...google 'longsands webcam'

yarp - agree with that too (good for North Tyne'rs anyroad)

Point to add is don't take all the weather forecasts (of which there are an abundance) at face value and to use them to make an educated guess...if unsure have a drive down on the morning you want to fish and see for yourself

 

[northeast1]

Who is risking it then?

Bloody blowing a gale at the mo but the sea is between slight and mod with abit of a lump from the south.

 

[big sid]

I Will If You Will, But Keep Hold Of That Radio So We Can Talk To The Nice Men & Women Humberside

 

[kingcod deano]

just filled up with 60 litres of fuel for tommorow hope the weather is kind

 

[Norman]

looks like it'll be a goer ...
wind dropping off (as expected) to leave a decent sea.

last check and decision time is at 3.00am tomorrow (the bonus of your own boat over a charter)

whooo hoooooo

see yas out there (I think)

norm

 

[northeast1]

I have made the call it is a goes, centre of the pressure is over us am but wind getting up pm so we should get a few hours. 6am start for me.