Re: [Paddlewise] Weather

Sisler, Clyde wrote the second paragraph;  John Winters wrote the first:
> 
> A weather radio can be handy but (always a but) they provide wide area
> forecasts that may not be applicable in your specific area. This
> particularly applies in areas with katabatic winds, thunder storms,
> significant natural land features, and the possibility that a weather
> system may not move as predicted.
> 
> Geesh, and I thought it was me.  I listened to NOAA faithfully 3 times a day
> but their forecasts didn't seem to match what I was experiencing half the
> time.  The big winds and big waves and thunderstorms and the fog never
> seemed to materialize so I stopped taking the forecasts as gospel and
> started doing pretty much my own thing.  I always figured I must be
> somewhere other than where I thought???

Yeah, Clyde, that's kinda what I see here, too.  FWIW, when I'm out
actually paddling on a multi-day trip, I try to pay close attention to the
buoy/lighthouse/weather station reports AROUND me to dose out where the
system is, and where it seems to be moving.

Can't do that everywhere, but some places (Queen Charlottes, for example)
are surrounded by buoys with swell, wind, and barometric pressure info
beaming your way.  Sometimes, you can scoot before the storm, even (do not
try this at home).

I could be way off base, but my subjective opinion is that Environment
Canada does a better job than NOAA -- at least out here on the West Coast
of North America.

Per one of TomCkayak's observations, there are sites on the net which will
help.  Tom's were oriented toward finding out swell (so he can surf in it,
I suspect!).  I found one which has the NOAA feed BETWEEN weather stations
-- sorta their shoptalk, where they confess the degree to which they have
confidence in their forecasts, and reveal some of the secondary options to
the main one they put out as the "weather forecast."  Don't know where
yours will be, but if you check out this
(http://www.ocs.orst.edu/pub_ftp/weather/prog_discussion/prog.PQR), you can
see the kind of info at these sites.  Also, there is a site which will let
you look at the summary of hourly readings at your local weather shop, so
you can see if that front has already passed or not.  It's at: 
http://wxp.atms.purdue.edu/interact.html

There may be a merit badge in this for us, Clyde!  <G>

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR

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