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| Weather on the internet | Contact us to |
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Weather on the Internet
There are a number of services on the Internet which provide up-to-date
surface forecasts, text forecasts and satellite pictures. Details of ways
to access the internet from a boat are in the section on
Telecommunications, See also GRIB weather files below.
Internet sites
Poseidon weather for Greece
www.poseidon.ncmr.gr/weather.forecast.html
Up to 72 hour surface wind
forecasts for Greece. The best source of weather for Greek waters and
adjacent Turkish waters.
University of Athens
weather.noaa.gov/weather/GR-cc.html
Weather observations at Greek
airports.
DWD Mediterranean Forecast
www.dwd.de/forecasts/seemm.htm
3-day text forecasts for a number of
Mediterranean areas including the eastern Mediterranean. In German only
but easily read in table form.
Mediterranean Sea Weather Page
www.sto-p.com/atol/
Bracknell surface analysis map, surface analysis
maps from NEMOC and wind charts from the University of Athens.
Jcomm by Meteo-France
weather.gmdss.org/lll.htm
A text only forecast identical to the
NAVTEX forecast.
Weather Online
www.weatheronline.co.uk
Current satellite and radar imagery and text
forecasts
Mediterranean sailing
www.medsail.nildram.co.uk
Rod Heikell's site for sailing in the
Mediterranean, with a weather page and links to those sites he considers
most useful in terms of content and
download time. Includes forecasts
for Greece.
Yahoo!
The weather data available from
Yahoo! includes satellite maps and aviation forecasts.
GRIB weather files
GRIB files are highly compressed weather files which cut download speeds
compared to earlier compression formats. They can contain all sorts of
data though commonly they have information on wind speed and pressure. The
files can be downloaded off the internet or received by email and their
small size makes them particularly suitable for receiving using slow
modems such as SSB. You will need a GRIB viewer and for some forecasts you
will have to pay a subscription fee to the provider.
•A number
of software plotting systems have a GRIB viewer including later versions
of Raytech Navigator (this is the software I use), Max-Sea, and Nobeltec.
In the future other software plotting systems are likely to include a GRIB
viewer.
•There are a number of free GRIB viewers available
including Airmail's Weather Fax Companion at www.siriuscyber.net/wxfax/
and I'm sure there are others out there.
•GRIB files are generated
by various agencies, including NOAA, which many of the other sources rely
on for their raw data. You can download free GRIB files from various
sources, but typically you will have to pay for some email services and
for longer range data. Raytech, for example, allow free internet downloads
(usually 3-day forecasts), but you must subscribe to the email service (up
to 7-day forecasts). Have a look at the list below for sourcing GRIB data.
•It is important to know that GRIB files are entirely computer generated and
have no human at the helm interpreting the data. • GRIB files are
compressed in different ways and you may need some software to decompress
the files depending on the viewer you are using. Compression can be .zip
(use Winzip) .grb or .bz2 and there may be others. Shareware or relatively
cheap software can be downloaded to decompress the file formats.
•These weather files are all fairly broad stroke and do not provide the
sort of detailed information found in more dedicated websites for a
country or sea area. They provide an overall picture for a large sea area
rather than detailed data for planning your sailing within a country.
For more information and GRIB data sources look at
Airmail
www.siriuscyber.net/wxfax
Unzipping software
EF Commander
www.bhs.com
WinRar 3.0
www.rarlab.com
Raytech Navigator (all-in-one GRIB viewer and receiver)
www.raymarine.com
Xaxero (I use their weatherfax software, the GRIB
viewer is a later addition)
www.xaxero.com/gribplot
Maxsea (via Setsail which has a good site
for the basics)
www.setsail.com/maxsea
Sailmail
www.sailmail.com
Marinenet
www.marinenet.net
Navcenter
www.navcenter.com
Go Back
The Tower of Winds
If you wander around Plâka, the old quarter of Athens, you will come
across the Tower of Winds standing just outside the site of the Roman
market place. Built in the first century BC by the Macedonian astronomer,
Andronikos of Kyrrhos, the octagonal tower is remarkable for a number of
reasons. On each of the eight marble sides there is a relief of a winged
figure representing the wind that blows from that direction. Originally
the tower was capped by a revolving bronze Triton holding a wand which
pointed to the prevailing wind. It was also a clock-tower. Beneath the
figures of the winds are eight sundials. Within the tower a water clock
registered the hours, fed by a reservoir on the south side of the roof.
But what is most remarkable is that each of the eight sides of the tower
faces the cardinal and half-cardinal points of the compass, although the
compass in its most rudimentary form was not introduced from the east
until over a thousand years later. Moreover, the figures depicting the
wind fly around the tower in an anticlockwise direction, which is the
direction in which any cyclonic system entering the Mediterranean also
revolves, with the winds of a depression following the same pattern and
sequence as that shown on the tower.
The figures
North: Boreas, the violent and cold north wind, represented by a bearded
old man wrapped in a thick mantle with the folds being plucked by the
wind. Northeast: Kaikias, a cold bitter wind represented by a man holding
a vessel from which olives are being scattered, representing the valuable
olive crop being destroyed by this wind.
East: Apeliotes, a handsome
young man, carries flowers and fruit, depicting the mild and kindly nature
of the wind.
Southeast: Euros, represented by an old man with his right
arm muffled in his mantle, heralds the stormy southeast wind.
South:
Notios, a sour-looking figure, empties an urn, implying rain and sultry
weather.
Southwest: Lips, represented by a figure pushing the prow of a
ship, signifies the wind that is unfavourable for ships leaving Athens.
West: Zephyros, the mild west wind, is represented by a handsome youth
showering a lapful of flowers into the air.
Northwest: Skiron,
represented by a bearded man with a vessel in his hands, is interpreted in
various ways. Either he is carrying a vase denoting occasional rain
showers, or a charcoal vessel with which he dries up rivers.
Routes
The constancy of the summer wind from the north makes the planning of
routes quite straightforward. In the spring a yacht should keep to the
north and plan to go south and east with the summer northerlies. It can
then return to the north and west in the autumn.
At the beginning of
each chapter there is a brief section on routes for that area and routes
to and from other areas. Because Greece has so many islands and a much
indented coastline, there are really any number of routes to and from one
place to another. Whatever the weather, there are so many places to
shelter within short distances of one another that you can make up your
own itinerary, covering as much or as little ground as you want.
At the
beginning of each chapter there is also a list of useful waypoints to
facilitate route planning. See the section on waypoints under About the
plans and pilotage.
Go Back
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National Greek Tourism Org.
Official licenced
#01773
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Sail cyclades islands
and enjoy the most beautiful sunset
in the world... |
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ROYAL EAGLE LTD
44, Korai Str. - K.Ilioupoli 163 46, ATHENS - GREECE
Phone: +30 210 9955474, +30 210 9953968, Fax: +30 210 9934949, email: charter@realtimeyachts.gr
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Last update: September 5, 2010, Sunday 5:36 pm
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