Weather apps etc

RussGW270

RussGW270

GreatGrady Captain
Joined
Mar 5, 2019
Messages
1,761
Reaction score
254
Points
83
Age
58
Model
Islander
So, question was asked and, frankly...been too many years and I was curious.. What do you all use for weather/wind/wave forecasting?

With a 250+ mile drive to get to the coast, it is a waste of time to go and not at least have a good idea of what to expect. Weather changes, but I want a better idea.

Right now, I have a Sirius XM weather account, I have noaa bouy info, and about 15 apps on the phone, some are paid accounts that I have not activated, but could if others suggest they are accurate and worth the cost.

Ideas?
 
I have weather channel free app and Sirius WX on the boat. Sometimes it's right, sometimes not so much. I watch it weeks out before my trips to SC to get an idea what I might encounter for the week. I have a 7-8 hour drive so if weather changes I deal with it. Adapt and go on with life, no reason to get stressed if the weather man misses the forecast. Try again next weekend, not the end of the world.

We've been blown off the water by change of forecast, we'll go into town and hit West Marine and assorted tackle shops and spend the day hanging out and get a nice dinner that evening and try it again the next day. No one minds, we aren't at work and we're hanging out with friends. Learn to take life a little less serious and enjoy it.
 
I use Windfinder on my iphone. It is dead nutz on.
 
Thanks. I found those a while back, but have not used them much yet. I am not too worried, just mostly asking because one of the guys going in two weeks went this weekend with his 23.5ft Parker and his forecast was 2-3ft waves but he ran into like 4-6ft waves so turned back in.

While I think anything over 4-5ft makes it less fun, it depends on the length etc.. and I suspect the Grady handles it differently than his Parker... so, was curious. I have plenty of maps, but would at least like to save a drive if the forecast is crazy.

Then again... have seen times they forecast bad weather and it ended up being awesome lol.. hence why, in the past, it was mainly to help me avoid stuff while I was out, not before.

Oh, for the record, I take life less serious.. I am married.. lol... I was just curious is all. I like the planning almost as much as the execution.... no harm in that.

R
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bloodweiser
Wow! “250 mile”, “7-8 hour”. You guys impress me with your dedication to using your boats.
 
Actually, about 200 miles, so 4-5 hours max.

It's Texas... everything is 100-200 miles lol...except El Paso.. lord...
 
Keeldad said:
Wow! “250 mile”, “7-8 hour”. You guys impress me with your dedication to using your boats.
Click to expand...

I've been doing my run to SC for 32 years, was doing it 3-4 times a year. Second nature to make that run now days. Couple in the spring, most of the trips were for fall fishing. Now we only go in the fall/winter time frame, seems to be better fishing then. Make a run to Florida once a year for vacation during the summer, so pretty flexible when I go out.

If I get the itch to take the boat out, I can run about an hour and put the boat in and cruise the lake.
 
Windy and National Weather Service. I am fairly close to my boat (like 5 min) though....
 
Windy. I use it because it can show results from different weather models.

The ECMWF (European) model was recommended by one of the guys here who works at NOAA because it uses better input data. It doesn’t forecast as far out as the GFS model but so far has been the most reliable.
 
Myradar app is also handy because it lets you see approaching rainstorms.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.