Supermap FORECASTS

Site Admin Joined: Mar 07, 2008 Posts: 1636

In Bluewater SuperMap, you can get detailed text weather forecasts.

You have 5 choices of Nautical Forecast data to display - NWS, GFS, GFS Marine, ETA, and ETA Marine. Varying by product, you will get data such as sea height, wind direction, wind speed, precipitation, visibility, cloud cover, daytime and night-time temperatures, dewpoint, and thunderstorm probability, just to name a few.

Let's take a deeper look into each NAUTICAL FORECAST option:

NWS Coastal & Offshore Forecasts = This is your "typical" coastal waters forecast from NOAA.

(1) Open SuperMap.
(2) I then click on Details and remove Bathymetry so I can get a clear, clean view of the map.
(2) Optional: Zoom into the map to get a little closer to the area you fish.
(2) Across the top, click Forecasts.
(3) Choose NWS Coastal and Offshore Forecasts.
(4) Divisions will appear along the coast. If you look at the bottom in the blue Marine Zone box, you'll see which area includes. Single click in the area you want the forecast for.
(5) A popup will appear giving you the 5 day forecast.

GFS (MAV) = The short-range GFS-Based MAV guidance is generated from 0000, 0600, 1200, and 1800 UTC model output from NCEP's Global Forecast System (GFS).

(1) In SuperMap Forecast, choose GFS.
(2) You will see your screen light up with available GFS data.
(3) Single click the one you wish to check.
(4) You will get a popup box of data.

GFS Marine ( MMV )
(1) Under Nautical Forecasts in SuperMap, select GFS Marine.
(2) Single click on your station choice.
(3) You will get a popup with the data.

ETA/NAM MET = The ETA MET is generated from 0000 UTC and 1200 UTC model output from the Environmental Modeling Center's ETA Model.

(1) Under Nautical Forecasts in SuperMap, select ETA/NAM
(2) You may find it necessary to zoom into the map because there are so many availabilities.
(3) Single click on your choice.
(4) A popup of data will appear.

ETA NAM Marine = ETA / NAM Marine station bulletins

(1) Select ETA NAM Marine from the Nautical Forecast column under SuperMap's Forecast tab.
(2) Single click on the station you want data from.
(3) A popup will appear with the requested info.

Now, don't get all frustrated just yet - I'm going to tell you right now exactly how to read the popup chart data:

Sample:

KDTS GFS MOS Guidance 3.23.2008 1800 UTC = This is GFS Text Data with the date and time stamp
DT - Month & Day
HR - Hour of the day in UTC time - 00 UTC is 6pm Central, 7pm Eastern... 03 UTC is 9pm Central, 10pm Eastern... 12 UTC is 6am Central, 7am Eastern
N/X - High and Low for the day
TMP - Temperatures
DPT - Dewpoint
CLD - Cloud Cover - - > CL = clear, FW = few, SC = scattered, BK = broken, OV = overcast
WDR - forecasts of the 10-meter wind direction at the hour, given in tens of degrees.
WSP - forecasts of the 10-meter wind speed at the hour, given in knots
P06 - probability of precipitation (PoP) during a 6-h period ending at that time
P12 - PoP during a 12-h period ending at that time
*Q06 - quantitative precipitation forecast (QPF) category for liquid equivalent precipitation amount during a 6-h period ending at that time.
*Q12 - QPF category for liquid equivalent precipitation amount during a 12-h period ending at the indicated time.
* 0 = no precip, 1 = .01 to .09 inches, 2 = .1 to .24 inches, 3 = .25 to .49 inches, 4 = .50 to .99 inches, 5 = 1 to 1.99 inches, 6 = 2 & higher inches
T06 - probability of thunderstorms/conditional probability of severe thunderstorms during the 6-hr period ending at the indicated time.
T12 - probability of thunderstorms/conditional probability of severe thunderstorms during the 12-hr period ending at the indicated time.
POZ - conditional probability of freezing pcp occurring at the hour
POS - conditional probability of snow occurring at the hour
TYP - conditional precipitation type at the hour - - > S = Snow, Z = any frozen rain, sleet, R = pure rain or rain with snow
SNW - snowfall categorical forecasts during a 24-h period ending at the indicated time
CIG - ceiling height categorical forecasts at the hour - - > 1 = <200ft> 12,000ft
VIS - visibility - - > 1 = <1> 6 miles
OBV - obstruction to vision - - > N = none, HZ = haze, smoke, dust, BR = mist, fog with visibility > 5/8 of a mile, FG = fog, ground fog with visibility < 5/8 of a mile, BL = blowing dust, sand, snow

Site Admin Joined: Mar 07, 2008 Posts: 1636

Under the Supermap Forecast tab you also get WAVECAST, REEFCAST, & EPHEMERIS data.

To learn more about those:
http://www.florida-offshore.com/forum-31.html


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