Trusting the weather report.

[fish'n'chippy]

That's a lot of info at weatheronline
Each to their own, I just find this simpler, and it's only the bit I'm interested in
But, I still reference to the wind observations as well to see if there are any anomalies

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G

[aus2045]

They produce a nice very chart fish'n'.

If you like that style of thing. I often use BSCH 10m. This is GFS Model driven but can be a very good guide.
http://forecasts.bsch.com.au/stormca...d:s10m:null#sc

Pick your region above the graphic, then choose the date on the left of the graphic. Gives a good representation of wind direction and knots at 10m above sea level..

Being GFS it is a long range deterministic model, so anything out past 3-4 days is a little crystal ball and witchcraft. Still a usefull guide for planning a trip.

[CruiserV8100]

This is some bloody good info, thanks aye. I lived this area all me life, Im 35 this year and know this areas weather pretty well and follow me weather and fishing more than the misses to the bedroom these days. The sites i use are windfinder seabreeze bom http://www.yr.no/place/Australia/Que...eton/long.html these give me a detailed outlook, and on most occasions do get it right. I been havin a look at the ones posted and their pretty impressive. Everyones info they have provided is much appreciated. Ill try and reply to some of your post tomoro as I have one huge day left at work tomoro before me time off and its just started pissin down rain here on bribie so someones weather report was right. Thats a first..

Cheers

[aus2045]

I think that's what sites like this are for; sharing and learning. I don't know much but what I do know I'm keen to pass it on to others.
If only someone can tell me how and where to catch a fish here in Central Qld I'd be rapt.

[ThePinkPanther]

Remember one thing, no matter where you get the reports from they ALL COME FROM BOM!

There is no other agency authorised (or qualified) to generate weather reports so all the others do is move the data around to make it look prettier!

[Scalem]

Yep, the noise on the tin roof gave it away this morning, got up and drew the curtains back. Now there's a surprise, it raining! Does anyone else still pull up a weather site anyway, as if in denial even though you already know its obvious right about now, the boat is wet for all the wrong reasons.

Scalem

[ThePinkPanther]

The main thing to remember is wether you use Seabreeze, the Telly, papers or what, EVERY SINGLE BIT OF WEATHER INFO ORIGINATES FROM BOM.

So whilst many of the weather providers would like you to think they themselves come up with the weather reports, in fact all they do is swipe it from BOM data and then hack it up into the various formats they wish to display.

This can be seen on the iPads, iPhones etc. Androids where there are dozens of "Apps" that boast the latest and greatest personalised reports - wrong - all from BOM! None of these providers employ weather forecasters nor have anything other than possibly a wind vane or barometer!

If you are really serious about weather, get a cheap Barometer and have a look at how the various weather patterns and (again) them ISOBARS link up to produce the complete picture.

Secondly, it is pretty satisfying to see the number of members who answered this post who appear to have a good grasp on the concepts of weather. The few "ah, I don't trust them and they are always wrong" guys are regrettably the ones who probably wouldn't know an ISOBAR from a Paddlepop and they are the ones who usually get into trouble on the day and then blame the weather!

Sure it can change dramatically, that is what weather is all about! Like medicine it is not an exact science but it takes as little as ONE DEGREE change in temperature, an ISOBAR (wriggly lines on a weather chart) to inc/dec by one unit for the whole plot to go to hell.

But the guys who watch weather charts (not maps) EVERY DAY, listen to the news, use their eyes daily to see what is going on outside are the ones who can say they understand the weather.

And it's also worth remembering that local effects such as islands, mountains, towns, vegetation and the like can all have a dramatic effect on the actual weather at the time. Weather forecasts don't allow for this sort of variation hence the oft heard observation "as soon as I come around the corner, the wind was so strong that dogs were flying off their collars", meaning local effects probably skewed the actual weather round a bit.

If I could make one negative observation on BOM it is that since they started their seven day outlook program, that significantly increases the odds of the last few days being wrong. If you compare the forecast seven days from one day to the next you will see constant changes as conditions used to construct the forecasts change constantly from day to day. In fact BOM is "about right" 85% of the time - give or take a bit!

I've got an old pictorial weather chart I designed back in the days I used to teach airline pilots and VMR guys on weather, I'll see if I can dig it up up somewhere and post it up here as it has EVERY weather condition in Australia all on the one map ...... Just not sure where I put it though!

About five years back I started writing a book on "Weather for Boaties", even got a website for it, but got a bit disinterested in the project and shelved it, might try and get more than the hundred pages I have done so far and finish it off!

www.weatherforboaties.com.au - some of the linked pages still work if you want to have a look though them to see if I am on the right track!

[SatNav]

1. Agree and way too many boaties are more pre-occupied with what the conditions are as of right now ("now cast" based on the comments re eyeballs etc) rather than what it is going to be like (forecast) in a few hours time or on the way back.