We do not have our own weather station but the one at Sheerness (10 miles from our club) is excellent (see "Live Weather" below). We have yet to find a forecasting service that is completely correct all the time but the sources listed are a selection of what is available out there that various members have used. If you have found other sources which you think are worth using, email the details using the link at the bottom of this page.
Live weather
Forecasts on the web
On the radio
On TV
- Live Weather on the web
- Thames Estuary Weather Station
An on-line weather station has been installed in Sheerness at the Isle of Sheppey Sailing Club. The wind speed and direction are very accurate as the anemometer is mounted at the top of their flagstaff, undisturbed by any other structure for miles around in every direction. The data can be viewed at http://www.iossc.org.uk/weather. It includes wind speed and direction, temperature and pressure all updated every four seconds and two webcams updated every five minutes. You can also view a graph showing the wind speed over the past eight hours.
- Forecasts on the web
- Metcheck.com
Metcheck provide 24 hour forecasts free showing the changes in 3 hour intervals. If you are prepared to pay a subscription there is lot of additional information available. Metcheck forecasts are the ones displayed at the club on Sundays.
- AccuWeather.com
AccuWeather takes a bit of playing with to get what you want. If you follow the "Sailing" link you can choose Thames Estuary or Margate (the two nearest areas) to get the forecast given in 6-hour chunks for the next 24 hours. The nearest inland location that current weather and forecasts are available for, appears to be Maidstone.
- BBC Radio Kent - 12hr/24hr forecast
Radio Kent's web site provides quite a bit of weather information for Kent. It also has links to BBC Online's 5-day forecasts and Inshore Waters forecasts. Annoyingly, it doesn't give the inshore forecast that is broadcast on the radio - see "Weather on the radio" below.
- BBC Online - 5-day forecast for Chatham
The BBCi web site's weather section provides a choice of several towns around the UK to get a local 5-day forecast. The Chatham forecast has been as accurate(!) as any and the layout is good.
- BBC Online - Inshore waters forecast
The Inshore Waters forecast is the same as you can hear on Radio 4. On the web site you can choose to read it or hear it.
- Tiscali Weather - 7-day local forecast
Tiscali is an internet service provider (ISP) and among the non-members services is a 7-day forecast for your chosen location. The forecast for Chatham has been pretty good and is presented in a pleasing format.
- Weather Online UK
Weather Online UK provides current weather and forecasts worldwide. It has a less pleaseant interface than the other sites but some members think its forecasts are reliable.
- UKHO Tidal prediction for Chatham
We haven't found a site yet which will give tide predictions for Chatham for the whole year but the UKHO's Easytide tidal prediction service is the best we have found of what is available. You can get the prediction for the current day and up to six following days. It displays a tidal graph, so you can see the height for every hour of the day rather than just the high and low tides.
- Weather on the radio
- BBC Radio Kent
Radio Kent is probably the best source for the local weather. General Kent weather summaries are given following the news bulletins each hour on the hour. Following the news headlines on the half hour they give a detailed weather forecast. Also a very good inshore waters forecast which covers the area Pool of London to North Foreland to Dungeness is given after the following bulletins: 06:30, 07:30, 08:30, 09:30, 18:30. They also give high tides for several locations including Chatham.
Occasionally a presenter will forget (not very often) to give the marine information. So you should be prepared to seek one of the alternative sources if that happens.
Radio Kent transmits on 96.7MHz and 104.2MHz FM, 774kHz AM.
- BBC Radio 4
If you listen to the radio at strange times you can catch the Inshore Waters forecast and Shipping Forecast (00:48hrs). This Inshore forecast is not as good as the Radio Kent forecast because the area for the SouthEast is much larger than the Kent coastline. Possibly useful if you are planning a night sail or are an insomniac! Also useful if you cannot receive Radio Kent or want to know what is happening in neighbouring areas.
- Weather on the Television
- BBC CEEFAX
Go to page 409 for the Inshore Waters forecast. The forecast is updated once every twenty-four hours: twenty-four hour forecast valid from 06:00hrs. Page 400 has the Weather pages index.
- ITV Teletext
Go to page 158 for the Inshore Waters forecast. This includes a Tides page covering 11 locations; the nearest ones to us are Dover and Southend. The forecast is updated once every twelve hours: twenty-four hour forecasts valid from 06:00hrs and 18:00hrs. Page 150 has the Weather pages index.
