Reeds weather handbook : for sail and power

The bestselling Reeds Handbooks are hugely popular with boaters on board and at home, and the Reeds Weather Handbook continues in this same tradition. This essential pocket-sized guide equips the reader with all the tools to predict and deal with local and distant weather conditions, whether on a day trip or a longer cruise, along the coast or further offshore. Each topic is broken down into digestible chapters, explaining the origins and effects of the full spectrum of weather conditions, including: - using and evaluating weather forecasts - depressions, fronts, isobars and other coastal effects - waves and swells - weather lore and sky watching With practical explanations and helpful diagrams and photographs, this is the ideal aide-memoire for skippers and crew, especially those studying for their Day Skipper and Yachtmaster exams. Cover 1 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Acknowledgements 6 Contents 7 Introduction 9 Air masses 11 Understanding air masses 11 Air directly from polar regions 12 Air indirectly from polar regions 13 Air from the subtropics 14 Tropical air 15 Air mass with a land track 16 Fog 17 Sea fog areas 18 Other causes of sea fog 22 Showers and thunderstorms 23 Lightning 27 Lightning protection 27 Avoiding the risk 29 Other dangers of thunderstorms 31 Fronts and depressions 35 Frontal lows and their formation 35 What you may see at sea level 39 Occluded fronts 47 Interpretation of synoptic charts 47 Non-frontal lows 51 Sea and land effects 53 How breezes are formed 53 The sea breeze front 54 What affects the sea breeze? 56 Land breezes 60 Sea/land breeze cycles 61 How strong? How far out to sea? How far inland? 63 Cliffs, straits and headlands 64 Summary 68 Waves and swell 69 Understanding sea state 69 Wind waves 70 Swell 70 Water depth and tidal stream 71 Reflection and refraction 72 Sea state – general advice 74 Lagoon, bay and seiche effects 75 Tsunamis 76 Weather forecasting – the background 77 Why weather prediction is so difficult 77 Before computers 78 Numerical weather prediction (NWP) 79 Limitations to NWP 82 Ensembles 83 Grid spacing 84 Small-scale NWP 85 Summary 88 Using forecasts – and your experience 89 Planning 89 Weather and whether to go? 89 Day sailing and coastal passages 90 Passage making 92 Examples 95 Learning by experience 97 Ocean crossings 98 Summary 99 Sources of weather information 100 Types of marine forecast available 100 The Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) 100 Forecast areas 101 Forecast texts 102 Other GMDSS services 103 GRIB files and products 103 Basic (free) services 104 Processed or selected GRIB data 107 Fine-scale processed GRIB data 109 On prepayment 111 Consultants 111 Actual weather reports 111 Summary 113 Getting forecasts 114 Radio or internet? 114 Marine VHF and MF 114 NAVTEX 115 MF/HF/SSB radio 117 The internet 118 Internet access – coastal and ashore 119 Internet access – long range 120 Observing – learning by experience 121 Weather lore and rules of thumb 121 Nowcasting 122 Examples of unusual cloud patterns 123 Mountain waves 123 Bora cloud 125 Mammatus cloud 125 Appendix 127 Acronyms and abbreviations 127 Meteorological terms 130 Terms used in marine weather forecasts 133 Beaufort wind scale 133 Douglas sea state 134 Gale and strong wind warnings 135 Wind direction 135 Visibility 135 Terms used in UK Met Office forecasts 136 Gale warning timings 136 Movement of pressure systems 136 Pressure tendency in station reports 137 Sources of information 138 Index 143 A 143 B 143 C 143 D 143 E 143 F 143 G 143 H 143 I 143 J 143 L 143 M 143 N 143 O 144 P 144 R 144 S 144 T 144 V 144 W 144 The bestselling Reeds Handbooks are hugely popular with boaters on board and at home, and the __Reeds Weather Handbook__ continues in this same tradition. This essential pocket-sized guide equips the reader with all the tools to predict and deal with local and distant weather conditions, whether on a day trip or a longer cruise, along the coast or further offshore. Each topic is broken down into digestible chapters, explaining the origins and effects of the full spectrum of weather conditions, including:- using and evaluating weather forecasts- depressions, fronts, isobars and other coastal effects- waves and swells- weather lore and sky watching With practical explanations and helpful diagrams and photographs, this is the ideal aide-memoire for skippers and crew, especially those studying for their Day Skipper and Yachtmaster exams. This pocket-sized aide-memoire will equip sailors (and other outdoors people) with the knowledge to read and predict the weather.