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(Moving this discussion to its own thread)
I am addicted to a morning listen to the NOAA weather forecast, especially when paddling big open water on the coast. I listen every morning and write a summary of the extended forecast on a “weather page” in my journal. Comparing the changes in those daily forecasts each morning has helped me better recognize developing weather patterns.
On coastal trips I am especially interested in changes in wind speed and direction, not just for the immediacy of the day’s weather but for what those changes portend for the week to come.
Although the immediacy can be darned useful too. I heard from friend Joel this morning, coming off guiding an Everglades trip. He was up before his clients one morning listening to the NOAA forecast and heard tornado warnings issued for his area in time to secure the boats on the other side of the chickee and batten down the hatches.
Once the storms passed they continued their trip and found other parties had had a tough time of it, with boats battered against chickees, tents flattened and gear blown into the bay.
We had a similar tornado warning in the Carolinas a few years ago and passed through some awesome devastation later that day.
Having a dependable forecast on open water trips is a safety issue, but it can also be a convenience issue. From minor benefit like reorienting the tarp for better wind performance before the gusts hit, to planning should I go or should I stay wind considerations.
The advantage of staying over an extra day or leaving a day early to take advantage of fortuitous wind speed and direction has paid for the weather radio a dozen times over. Just the couple of trips where I have been able to adjust my schedule to both sail in and sail out have been worth more to me than the cost of the fanciest weather radio.
I carry an old, inexpensive WeatherOne receiver. It is the size of a small digital pocket camera and including a spare transistor battery and auxiliary wire antenna it weighs less than 6 oz. There are much better weather radios, or am/fm/wx radios, but that one hasn’t failed me yet. And it’s been on the same battery for as long as I can remember.
People south of our friendly border have the NOAA to keep them alerted to risky. Maybe all of you know this already, but it's all news to me.
I am addicted to a morning listen to the NOAA weather forecast, especially when paddling big open water on the coast. I listen every morning and write a summary of the extended forecast on a “weather page” in my journal. Comparing the changes in those daily forecasts each morning has helped me better recognize developing weather patterns.
On coastal trips I am especially interested in changes in wind speed and direction, not just for the immediacy of the day’s weather but for what those changes portend for the week to come.
Although the immediacy can be darned useful too. I heard from friend Joel this morning, coming off guiding an Everglades trip. He was up before his clients one morning listening to the NOAA forecast and heard tornado warnings issued for his area in time to secure the boats on the other side of the chickee and batten down the hatches.
Once the storms passed they continued their trip and found other parties had had a tough time of it, with boats battered against chickees, tents flattened and gear blown into the bay.
We had a similar tornado warning in the Carolinas a few years ago and passed through some awesome devastation later that day.
Having a dependable forecast on open water trips is a safety issue, but it can also be a convenience issue. From minor benefit like reorienting the tarp for better wind performance before the gusts hit, to planning should I go or should I stay wind considerations.
The advantage of staying over an extra day or leaving a day early to take advantage of fortuitous wind speed and direction has paid for the weather radio a dozen times over. Just the couple of trips where I have been able to adjust my schedule to both sail in and sail out have been worth more to me than the cost of the fanciest weather radio.
I carry an old, inexpensive WeatherOne receiver. It is the size of a small digital pocket camera and including a spare transistor battery and auxiliary wire antenna it weighs less than 6 oz. There are much better weather radios, or am/fm/wx radios, but that one hasn’t failed me yet. And it’s been on the same battery for as long as I can remember.