Weather Services in the Baltic |
| This page is partly culled from Cruising Association members with Baltic experience. I hope that it will be updated from time to time - but this can only be done if there is input from those who sail in the area. Watch this space or, rather, the latest issue date at the bottom of this page. | Cruising Association members can obtain Guides to the area and other information collected by the Baltic Section of the Cruising Association.. A site that will interest putative Baltic sailors is run by my friend and fellow Hallberg Rassy owner, Ivan. His site contains much useful and hard won experience. It is well worth visiting and more amusing than my pages. | |
| Introduction | Marine Radio Services | NAVTEX | Radio Teleprinter | |
| National and Local | Internet | Swedish Coasts | HF and HAM Radio | |
| Marina Offices | Telephone | VHF Channels | Coastal areas | Swedish terminology |
Introduction |
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| Having no personal direct experience in the area, I had
a useful start from James Latchford and Graham Cattell supplemented by
input from other CA members (notably, Roger Saunders) and other sources - mainly ALRS Vol 3(1) and the Internet. The expertise of James and Graham (and other
CA members) is available through the Baltic Section of the Cruising Association membership of which is strongly recommended to anyone cruising the area. In particular, James has produced a very useful glossary of terms and has given examples with interpretation of forecasts that you will hear on the radio. It is also worthwhile looking at texts available on the Internet in order to
see the format, terms used and, often important, the place names used. Information on Poland was kindly provided by Marcin Palacz. In the following, I have largely avoided reference to Public Radio Service broadcasts. Partly this is because of the schedules which are likely to change. James Latchford does make the point that there is a fair degree of commonality between German, Danish and Swedish. Therefore, it can be worth while using these broadcasts from these countries and, also, those Finnish stations that broadcast in Swedish. Finnish as a language is quite incomprehensible to most other nationalities. The CA Baltic Group makes the latest known information available to members. James makes the following recommendation regarding equipment for receiving forecasts - |
To these, I would add a NAVTEX receiver - as being in the essential category for sailing near coasts in many countries and particularly so around Europe. A list of useful VHF channels is in Appendix 1. Names of Baltic Sea areas in four languages are in Appendix 2. Swedish coastal area names are in Appendix 3. NOTE 1 Forecast and actual wind speeds in the area are quite often given in metres/second. A sufficiently accurate conversion to knots is to multiply by 2 ie 10 m/s = 20 kn or, for a good approximation, divide m/s by 2 to get the Beaufort force. NOTE 2 As ever, translations from one language to another may not always be accurate when done under pressure of time. In my experience, it is always worthwhile learning enough of the weather vocabulary to listen to the originals. I have been told that some Swedish translations are incorrect. |
Marine Radio Services |
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| Stockholm Radio operates over 50 VHF stations from the Norwegian border in Skagerrak, up to the Finnish border in the northern Bay of Bothnia - including the sea around the island of Gotland and the lakes Vänern, Vättern, Mälaren and Hjälmaren. These stations are remotely controlled from STOCKHOLMRADIO which is the call sign for all. Locations of the stations are in the pilots and on the Stockholm Radio site.
Swedish VHF forecasts are broadcast four times a day. They are available over a very wide area and are pretty reliable. These forecasts have been heard as far west as Kristiansand at the southern tip of Norway and in parts of the Danish Archipelago. Note that the timings and formats of the forecasts are liable to change. Up to date times and VHF channels are given each year in the free publication Kustregistret (KR) which is available at Swedish marinas. Note that the timings in KR are in a mixture of UTC and local time and can readily be misunderstood. |
You may also find it
convenient to use
www.stockholmradio.com .
A similar service is provided by Turku through its remote stations. Otherwise there are a variety of VHF and MF (mainly SSB) stations as in the table below which shows the (known to me) published schedules and frequencies. Forecasts are usually about three minutes late but sometimes a little later due to operational problems. They are usually preceded by the Morse letters SDJ repeated for a minute or so. If you have difficulties getting a good signal on the expected channel it is worth using the scan function on your VHF to see if some other channel gives better reception. Coast Radio announcers differ in their fluency, confidence and flow. In Swedish quite distinct dialect variations can be distinguished. (e.g. morning can be spoken as formiddan, formiddag or formiddagen) |
Station 1 |
Areas 2 |
Times |
MF/SSB |
VHF Chs |
Stockholm (1 May - 31 Oct)
|
Swedish Coasts - East coast Björoklubb to Utklippan |
0830 and 1630
LT |
..1674, 1710, 1779, 1797 |
After a call on Ch 16 See Appendix 1 |
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Swedish Coasts -South and West coasts plus Vanern and Vattern |
0900 and 1700 |
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Stockholm |
Areas 1 - 15 |
0600 and 1800 |
1674, 1710, 1779, 1797, 2733 |
After a call on Ch 16 See Appendix 1 |
Tingstäde |
Areas 8 and 9 |
1006 and 2206 |
2768 |
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Tingstäde |
Local Area |
0900 and 1600 |
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13 |
Karlskrona |
Areas 9 and 10 |
0954 and 2154 |
2789 |
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Latvia |
Riga Region. |
0815 and 1700 |
.. |
67 |
Latvia |
Liepaja region. |
0805 and 2005 |
.. |
11 |
Estonia |
Tallinn region. |
0633 and 1533 |
1650 |
69 |
German Coast Radio 4
|
.All Baltic Sea areas |
0745, 0945, 1245, 1645, 1945 |
. |
.See Appendix 1 for stations and channels |
Turku
5 |
.Gulf of Finland:, Northern Baltic, Sea of Åland and Archipelago, Gulf of Bothnia |
0633 and 1833 LT |
2810, 1638 or 1719 |
After a call on Ch 16 See Appendix 1 |
Danish Radio |
.9 - 14, Jylland, Øeme and Bornholm (plus N Sea areas) |
0445, 0745, 1045 3 1645 3, 2145 |
243 and 1062 |
. |
Witowo Radio 6 |
Western, Southern, South - Eastern, Central and Northern Baltic and Polish coastal waters. |
01:33, 7:33, 13:33, 19:33 |
2720 |
After a call on Ch 16 See Appendix 1. |
VTS - Zatoka |
Gulf of Gdansk |
0105, 0805, 1405, 2005 in English |
|
Ch 66 after a call on Ch 16 and 71 |
VTS - Zatoka |
Gulf of Gdansk |
0005, 0705, 1305, 1905 in Polish. LT |
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Ch 66 after a call on Ch 16 and 71 |
| NOTES | |
| 1 Except where stated these are
all English or have English versions 2 Area names are in Appendix 3. 3 At these times there is a 7 day forecast for areas 10 - 14, S Utsire, Fisher and German Bight. 4 The German coast radio service ( http://www.dp07.com "DP07 Seefunk") is operated on a private, commercial basis. Listening in to their regular weather bulletins, read in very slow and clear German, on |
an occasional basis seems to be fine.
Regular use, or use of their other
services (forecasts by SMS, traffic
reports, ship-to-shore link calls) requires
registration & subscription in advance.
5 The VHF channels vary, but are printed (along with their areas) in the front of the chart books, or can be seen at http://www.fma.fi/e/functions/trafficmanagement/?cat=turkuradio&page=2 6 Witowo broadcasts are first in English then Polish. |
NAVTEX |
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| Under the provisions of the GMDSS, text forecasts for sea areas in the Baltic available as follows: NAVTEX transmissions will always have English versions of the forecast (and other MSI). | Texts of GMDSS broadcasts on NAVTEX and INMARSAT - C can be found from my GMDSS page. see also the WMO/IMO GMDSS texts link. |
Broadcast by |
Times (UTC) |
Sea Areas |
Gislovshammar - J |
0930 and 2130 |
1 - 15 |
Bjuröklubb - H |
0910 and 2110 |
1 - 15 |
Tallinn - U |
0830 and 2030 |
5 - 10 |
Gothenburg - D |
0830 and 2030 |
1 - 15 |
Rogaland - L |
0150 and 1350 |
14, S Utsire, Fisher, German Bight and other Sea Areas in METAREA I |
Hamburg - L |
0150/1750 |
Western Baltic and Southern Baltic sea areas and German coastal waters |
0950 |
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Hamburg - L |
0550/2150 | German Bight and German coastal waters. |
| 1350 Warnings only |
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Hamburg - S |
4 hourly from 0300 |
German North Sea Areas |
Radio Fax |
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| Offenbach and Northwood (are the only two fax broadcasts available. Northwood broadcasts forecast charts including wind vector format twice a day. The winds shown are usually only those exceeding 25 kn. These are for two days to five days ahead. The wind vectors show the wind direction with feathers" giving speed. One long feather = 10 kn, one short feather = 5 kn. SW 20 kn and N 25 kn would be as shown here. |  The Deutscher Wetterdienst has accepted the responsibility to provide RadioFax charts for the area under the GMDSS. Full schedules are available on the Internet, see my GMDSS page for details. |
Radio Teleprinter |
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| Radio Teleprinter broadcasts from Hamburg (Pinnenburg) are also part of the DWD contribution to the GMDSS. There are 5 day forecasts (wind and sea state at 12 hour intervals). Other Offenbach (DWD) outputs are two day forecasts (wind, weather and sea state at 6 hourly intervals), sea area and coastal forecasts for the next 24 hours and actual reports from a small selection of stations.. The 2 and 6 day forecasts are direct output from the German numerical weather prediction model. Programme 1 (mainly in English) is on 4583, 7646 (both at 1 kW power) and 10100.8 kHz (10 kW power). Programme 2 is mainly in German but, with a little effort is readily understandable. Frequencies are 11039 and 14467.3 kHz (both at 1 kW power). |
Most forecasts are repeated on one or other of the programmes so that reception should be possible even if you have to have more than one go. For those with no German, Tief = Low, Hoch = High. The first two letters of the days of the week from Sunday on are SO, MO, DI, MI, DO, FR, SA. Germans run words together so that Suedostziehend = moving south - eastwards. Reception of both Radio Fax and Teleprinter can be very dependent upon time of day and location. Full Schedules are available on the Internet, see my GMDSS page for details. Go to the Appendix of the Western Med Forecasts page for an example of a 5 day Med forecast (the format for the Baltic and North Sea forecasts will be similar. There are also some hints in dealing with corrupt texts. |
National and Local Radio |
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| Sveriges Radio P1 in Swedish at the following times: |
Time (LT)* |
Content** |
0555 |
Weather report and forecast for sea areas together with water stand |
0655 |
Weather report for land areas and 5 - day prognosis |
0755 |
Land and sea reports and forecasts for Northern Baltic |
1300 |
Land and sea reports and forecasts for Northern Baltic |
1555 |
Weather report and forecast for sea areas together with 2 - day prognosis |
2150 |
2 - day prognosis for sea with wind information and 7 - day prognosis for land with max temperatures and precipitation information |
| NOTE | |
| * These times may be subject to change in which case reference should be made to the current version of "Väderkortet" - a small card issued by Sjöfartsverket and obtainable from chandlers and guest harbours free of charge. The FM frequencies for particular areas are obtainable from the Svensk Kusthandbok. ** For the area names see Appendix 3. Advice from members of the CA Baltic Section is that, in the S and SW Baltic the meteorological services provided by German public radio services are so good that they are regarded as essential listening. |
They give a (sometimes too) detailed synopsis followed by shipping forecasts for the appropriate North Sea and Baltic sea areas, all at easy dictation speed. They are in German but, even with no previous knowledge of German, and after a little effort and experience, it is quite easy to understand them. They are particularly useful when in Danish waters when out of range of Swedish coastal stations. There are, of course, many other local and national radio forecasts but these are very variable and can change at short notice. CA members should seek advice from the Baltic Section. |
Internet |
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| Many products are now available on the Internet. These include charts from Bracknell and other centres, some of the RTTY products of Offenbach, many GMDSS forecasts and texts of open sea and coastal waters forecasts etc. This is fine if you are ashore with land line telephone access. It is a different matter if afloat and trying to use a GSM telephone. The bandwidth is too low to allow downloading of much information, especially in picture form. If you keep to text information then you can download direct to a palm top computer. Use direct links, to access (at no charge) the texts of broadcasts under the GMDSS. Alternatively, you could access some of the information from the DWD RTTY broadcasts. http://www.smhi.se/batvadret/index.html gives the index to Swedish Coastal Forecasts as broadcast on VHF. Just click onto one of the coastal regions for the written forecast. http://www.smhi.se/cmp/polopoly.jsp?d=7808&l=en gives the large area English language marine forecasts for the Baltic, Kattegat and Skaggerrak. http://www.smhi.se/cmp/polopoly.jsp?d=103&l=en Is the start page for an interactive land forecast system. For access, click on the map of Sweden and use the mouse to enlarge the relevant part of the map. IF you click on named cities you will get a detailed 3 day forecast. With indications for the following two days. For planning purposes, a very useful service is available from the DWD for the Nordsee and Ostsee. These are winds a relatively small number of grid points taken from the DWD numerical weather prediction model. |
There is a useful English language website for Denmark which has excellent clickable charts and a selectable menu of current and predicted weather data. It is a little too slow for use over a mobile phone but excellent otherwise. There is an alternative, simpler page. Inshore waters forecasts for Swedish coastal areas are available online. . Unfortunately, this page is in Javascript and the Saildocs text retrieval does not work. However, it is a very fast download and will not cost very much over a GPRS phone. Links for specific areas for book-marking are - Haparanda-Bjuröklubb, Bjuröklubb-Örskär (North East Coast), Örskär-Landsort (Stockholm Archipelago), Landsort-Utklippan (South East Coast), Gotland, Utklippan-Hallands Väderö (South Coast), Hallands Väderö-Nordkoster (West Coast), Lake Vänern, Lake Vättern and Lake Mälaren and Hjälmaren.. There are useful pages from the Finnish, Danish and German Met Services. Go to the Essential Sites or the GMDSS pages of this site. In Poland http://meteo.icm.edu.pl/index2eng.php has a service based on the UK Met Office NWP model. A meso - scale version is run that covers Poland and the southern Baltic. It is largely land based but might be useful to sailors also. It is a little too clumsy for use over a mobile phone but OK in an Internet cafe or over a WiFi connection. However, there is a WAP service, meteowap.icm.edu.pl, especially designed for mobile phones. For those who like to see actual reports, there are several links at my Actuals page. |
Forecasts by email and GRIB files |
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| Text retrieval services give low cost access to texts off web pages. This is a useful facility when the texts are embedded in a page with logos and other gimmicks that are costly to download over a cell phone. INMARSAT - C and Mini M. can also be used for sending and receiving email as can satellite telephone and, when near the coast, GSM and GPRS phones For some general notes and links on these topics see the page on Internet connection while cruising. Another page has advice on setting up your cell phone to laptop connection. Météo France NAVIMAIL, Movingweather, and Météo Consult all provide services via email on repayment. FREE GRIB coded services are |
available from the US
via four sources. It is easy to use and one email can "order" forecasts for as long as you wish. For an area the size of the Baltic, 8 "charts" covering a five day period (say, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 96 and 120 hours ahead will be less than 10 kb.
Probably the easiest way to get GRIB file forecasts is to use Ugrib. This is a free service and very useful for one-off requests. My personal preference is to use email via SailDocs. This is another free service. Viewer software is also free. An example of the output is shown here. Care is needed with GRIB services and pages on Use of GRIBs and a general page on NWP may be useful to read. |
HAM Radio and HF email |
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| I have had a demo of HAM radio from Ross a liveaboard, circumnavigating Australian on Gemini, a 49 footer with (by my standards) space and power supplies galore. Those with the time, inclination, ability etc plus the necessary facilities can access much of the above information at no charge - apart from their licence fee etc - via HAM radio using Winlink. Winlink holds a Catalog of "standard" items that users find useful or have been recommended. As I understand it, the Winlink system works as follows. When someone asks for a Catalog item using email over HAM HF, the request comes into a network participating station.. If this station has caching turned on for a substantial number, say, 100, then the most popular 100 requested items are cached in the local computer and the response is immediate. If the response is not cached in the local computer memory, then a program goes out to the Internet and picks it up. Many weather products have duplicate URLs |
in case one is down or not up to date. If possible, Winlink has at least one backup URL for each product listed. GRIB products can be obtained via Winlink or by directing an email over HF to either Saildocs and GMN For more information than I have go, to the Winlink or SailMail home pages. Until such time as satellite telephone services becomes affordable, this seems to be a viable solution to accessing Internet products when at sea and out of GSM telephone contact. Even with GSM telephone, and current charges, HF radio offers a cost effective alternative to Internet access and email. However, due to propagation and reception problems it may not be available 100% of the time. Also on HF you may find it useful to listen in to various Cruiser Nets. |
Marina Offices |
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| Many marinas and harbour offices display forecasts from varying sources. These may be the National Met Service, private Met firms, the Internet etc. The quality may, therefore be somewhat uneven and forecasts from the different sources may not tally. As ever, the sailor is faced with conflicting advice and has to make a judgement based on experience. Because of my background I generally prefer the National Met Service versions.
Most marinas provide forecasts each morning that they obtain from the internet but you do find old forecasts displayed from time to time so do check the date. |
WARNING - a general warning for all forecasts, but particularly those posted in marinas and elsewhere, is to check the date and time of issue. I have often seen out of date forecasts being studied carefully by yachtsmen. Marina staff sometimes seem unaware that a forecast issued three days ago for today will be less reliable than one issued today. |
Telephone Services |
The Marine Rescue Service provides automatic forecasts at local call rates in Swedish currently on 0771 535 400. You must provide the area of interest by speaking it in answer to an initial question. You should give this in the form used in the Swedish language forecasts (e.g. Mälaren or Landsort till Haraldskär) The response is in two parts. the Synopsis followed by four sets of wind direction and strength predictions covering the next 24 hours for the area you have selected. |
The synopsis may be difficult to grasp but the second part is in the same format as the usual VHF coastal forecasts. Wind speeds are in metres/sec.. A good service in Finland is the SMS service. For 56 cents (Euro) you can get a four hourly forecast of wind speed and direction (in English) for two days out. You simply send an SMS to 16161 with the text SEA xx, where xx is an area number. The area numbers are printed in the chart packs. I'll send you a list but unfortunately left them on the boat, so it'll be a couple of weeks. Note that this service only works to local mobiles (not UK ones) |
Appendix 1 - - Useful VHF Channels, VHF station locations and areas used |
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| These have been provided by CA Baltic section members. Stockholm Radio website has a list of Channels and the range for each. A transmitter location map is also available. The table includes some stations relevant to "Approaches" to the Baltic. Most of the coast regions are described in terms of capes and headlands. You will find them on the chart you are using. The regions are taken in a clockwise direction. The South and West coast forecasts start at Utklippan and finish at the Norwegian border. The East coast forecasts start at the Finnish border and ends at Utklippan. The sequence is interrupted by Gotland Farvatten (Gotland sea-routes). After the main sequence the relevant lakes are taken in the order :- Vänern, Vättern, for the west coast or Mälaren, Hjälmaren for the east coast. Finnish VHF Channels and location of stations are on their website.
A map showing all the VHF channels and forecast times
for all the Baltic countries is at
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English |
German |
Danish# |
Swedish |
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| 15 | Lake Vänern | Lake Vänern |
The Numbers are as in ALRS Vol 3(1). # (note that Danish forecasts list these CLOCKWISE)
Appendix 3 - Swedish coastal areasAn area is defined as being between the following (though Round Gotland and Vänern are individual areas). In forecasts they are usually read clockwise. Sometimes two or more areas added together ("och" or "sammt"). ( but check for current forecasts in Kustregistret) Areas used on VHF are as follows - |
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Swedish Shipping Forecast Areas |
Swedish Coastal Weather Forecast Areas |
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| English language Broadcast 09.30 and 21.30 . | Swedish Forecasts at 0833 and 1633 |
Swedish Forecasts at 0833 and 1633 |
Swedish Forecasts at 0900 and 1700 |
| 1. Bay of Bothnia 2 The Quark 3. Sea of Bothnia 4. Sea of Åland and Åland Archipelago 5. Gulf of Finland 6. Gulf of Riga |
7. Northern Baltic 8. Central Baltic 9. Southeast Baltic 10. Southern Baltic 11. Southwest Baltic 12. The Sound and the Belts 13. Kattegat 14. Skagerrak |
1. Haparanda -
Bjuröklubben 2. Bjuröklubb - Skagsudde 3. Skagsudde - Kuggören 4. Kuggören - Örskär 5. Örskär - Söderarm 6. Söderarm - Sandhamn 7. Sandhamn - Landsort 8. Gotland Farvattern 9. Landsort - Haraldskär 10. Haraldskär - Oskarshamn 11. Oskarshamn – Utklippan 12. Mälaren 13. Hjalmär |
14. Utklippan -
Hanö 15. Hanö - Sandhammaren 16. Sandhammaren - Falsterbo 17. Falsterbo - Hallans Vädero 18. Hallans Vädero - Nidingen 19. Nidingen - Mäseskär 21. Mäseskär - Nordkoster 22.Vänern 23. Vattern |
Kväll : Evening |
Gällande Varningar : Gale Warnings |
Sjöväder : Sea area weather |
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1 En
En |
15 Femton
Femme-ton 16 Sexton Sex-ton 17 Sjutton Shu-ton 18 Arton Art-ton 19 Nitton Knee-ton 20 Tjugo Shoe-go 21 Tjugoen Shoe-go-en 22 Tjugotvå Shoe-go-tvow 23 Tjugotre Shoe-go-tray 24 Tjugofyra Shoe-go-fear-ah 25 Tjugofem Shoe-go-femme 26 Tjugosex Shoe-go-sex 27 Tjugosju Shoe-go-whoo |
28 Tjugoåtta
Shoe-go-oh-ta |
PreambleEach forecast begins with a greeting, next comes an overall synopsis, which is too variable to describe here. Unfortunately this section now contains visibility and rain information. Main part:Usually a coastal region is indicated (e.g. Landsort till Utklippan) Each length of coast is described by its ends
time period
förmiddag
This is repeated for the
other three time periods followed by :-
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The main words used are :-Morning, afternoon, ................ förmiddag, eftermiddag, evening, night ............................................... kväll, natt North, south, east, west ................. nord, syd öst, väst Winds speeds in metres/sec .................... Visibility ............................................................... sikt Good, moderate, poor ..................... god, måttlig, dålig Mist, fog ..................................................... dis, dimma Weather .............................................................. väder Rain ..................................................................... regn The probability of wind
over 10 metres/sec. is Several expressions can
be used :- |
© Frank Singleton, 15 February, 2003
Latest amends March 2008