SELECT A FORECAST FROM THE ABOVE FRAME
Are you fed up with inaccurate weather forecasts that appear to forecast force six winds at your local spot? And if, like me, you don't live near the coast and you then load all your gear onto your car and drive thirty something miles only to be faced with glassy calm water like something on a picture postcard. And then to rub salt into it one of the locals comes by and says "you should have been here yesterday mate! It was really shreddin." Even though you checked yesterdays forecast and found that it was for gentle 5mph breezes.
Many forecasts are very general and in my experience they tend to over compensate the forecast to cover the forecasters backside, just in case. By far the most accurate weather forecasting tool I've found is the "AvBrief - Weather Page" (last one in the contents frame above). This is only suitable if your location is near an airport as it is intended to provide accurate weather information for pilots using it.
In order to use this page you must first register and obtain a password. Once in, select "Weather", and thereafter enter the name of the airport that is nearest to your destination. After entering your username and password you will be presented with the weather forecast for the airport in coded form called TAFs and METARs. A TAF contains current weather statistics at a particular airport and a METAR is a forecast for the airport for a period of usually nine or eighteen hours. AvBrief now only display them in an easy to read format if you pay them a small monthly fee. However below is a small lesson in how to decode them. As a windsurfer the main information that you obtain from them is the wind strength and direction. I do most of my sailing at various spots on the Firth of Clyde and now always check out the METAR forecast for Prestwick airport before I leave which I find covers all the spots along this stretch of coastline. I've found it to be very accurate in that it even forecasts to within an hour or so when the wind will pick up, drop, change direction etc...
In the following example I have downloaded a report for Prestwick Airport, (yellow text), and decoded one METAR and one TAF, (white text).
Weather information for EGPK
METAR
112050 EGPK 112050Z 20005KT 9999 BKN020 12/09 Q1012=
METAR - actual aerodrome meteorological observation
112050 - time of report : 2050hrs on the 11th day
EGPK - code for Prestwick Airport
20005KT - surface wind : 200 degrees at 5 knots
9999 - visibility : in excess of 10 km
BKN020 - broken cloud, base 2000 ft
12/09 - air temp : 12 degrees ; dewpoint temp : 9 degrees
QNH - mean sea level pressure : 1012 millibars
= - end of forecast message
112020 EGPK 112020Z 22012KT 9999 FEW015 BKN026 12/09 Q1012=
111950 EGPK 111950Z 22012KT 9999 -RA FEW014 SCT030 BKN045 12/09 Q1012=
111920 EGPK 111920Z 22011KT 9999 FEW014 SCT030 BKN045 12/09 Q1012=
Short TAF
EGPK 111800Z 111904 23014KT 9999 FEW020 BKN025 PROB40 TEMPO 1903 8000 -SHRA -RA BKN014 TEMPO 0304 5000 -RADZ SCT005 BKN008=
TAF - aerodrome forecast
EGPK - code for Prestwick Airport
111800Z - issued on th 11th at 1800 hrs
111904 - valid from 1900hrs till 0400hrs (9 hour period)
23014KT - surface wind : 230 degrees at 14 knots
9999 - visibility : in excess of 10 km
FEW020 - few clouds, base 2000 ft
BKN025 - broken cloud, base 2500 ft
PROB40 - 40% probability that
TEMPO - periods of less than 60 minutes
1903 - between 1900hrs and 0300hrs
8000 - visibility reduced to 8000 metres
-SHRA - light rain showers (NB prefix + would mean heavy)
-RA - light rain
BKN014 - broken cloud, base 1400 ft
TEMPO - periods of less than 60 minutes
0304 - between 0300hrs and 0400hrs
5000 - visibility reduced to 5000 metres
-RADZ - light rain, drizzle
SCT005 - scattered cloud, base 500 ft
BKN008 - broken cloud, base 800 ft
= - end of forecast message
Long TAF
EGPK 111533Z 120018 19012KT 9999 SCT018 BKN024 TEMPO 0003 8000 -SHRA -RA BKN012 BECMG 0104 BKN012 TEMPO 0318 5000 -RADZ SCT005 BKN008 BECMG 0408 19018G30KT PROB30 TEMPO 0409 3000 RADZ BKN005 BECMG 1114 20024G40KT=