Indian Ocean Weather Forecast Areas

For boats traveling south and west across the southern Indian Ocean, local weather forecasting is hard to come by.

The Saildocs service on the Sailmail email system provides access to a range of forecasts, including those covering the southern Indian Ocean.

The Mauritius Meteorological Service prepares a very detailed short term forecast, available on Saildocs as "Met.8s / Southwest Of Indian Ocean".   It is also available via the GMDSS forecast tab on the Predict Wind Offshore application.

This forecast covers the complete GMDSS Area VIII, including relevant storm warnings and valuable weather interpretations (see today's forecast by clicking on "Continue Reading" below).  However the forecasting is segmented into sub-regions, 1 thru 7, that are not identified in terms of latitude and longitude, within the forecast.  To actually use the forecast you need to be able to identify the sub-region boundaries.

Via the friendly meteo office here in Rodrigues we were able to obtain a copy of the sub-region map, as shown at right (click to enlarge).  You can also click here to download a PDF copy of the map.  The Met Area VIII forecasts now make sense.



URL: http://weather.gmdss.org/navimail/GMDSS_METAREA8-S_INMARSAT
Date: 16 Jun 2015 04:07:27 -0000
Last-Modified: 15 Jun 2015 12:52:57 -0000

GMDSS_METAREA8-S_INMARSAT
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Caution: NAVIMAIL is not part of the Maritime Safety Information's
operational data stream and should never be relied upon as the only
means to obtain the latest forecast and warning information. Access
to the service may be interrupted or delayed from time to time,
update may also experience occasional gaps. Please refer to GMDSS
OFFICIAL sources, Inmarsat SafetyNET or international NAVTEX
services, for more complete information
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FQIO26 FIMP 151239

1:31:08:11:00

SECURITE

SHIPPING BULLETIN FOR METAREA VIII (S), METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES

MAURITIUS, ISSUED ON MONDAY 15 JUNE 2015 AT 1245 UTC.

PART 1: TTT WARNING OF NEAR GALE

STRONG BREEZE TO NEAR GALE FORCE SOUTHERLY TO SOUTH WESTERLY WINDS

TOGETHER WITH ROUGH TO VERY ROUGH SEAS EXIST WITHIN AREA BOUNDED BY

LATITUDES 25S TO 30S AND LONGITUDES 86E TO 95E.

STRONG GUSTS UNDER SQUALLS.

PART 2: GENERAL SYNOPSIS OBSERVED AT 1200 UTC ON MONDAY 15 JUNE 2015.

LOW 1008 HPA  NEAR 24S 58E.

WAVE NEAR 15S 64E.

SHALLOW LOW NEAR 08S 58E.

TROUGH AXIS ALONG 07S 78E, 10S 80E, 13S 81E.

WAVE NEAR 15S 87E.

FRONTAL SYSTEM ALONG 18S 61E, 22S 63E, 27S 64E.

HIGH 1028 HPA NEAR 39S 84E EXTENDING A RIDGE ALONG 30S 75E, 25S 73E,

21S 70E.

HIGH 1020 HPA NEAR 27S 47E.

PART 3: AREA FORECAST VALID UP TO TUESDAY 16 JUNE 2015 AT 1200 UTC.

8/1: CLOCKWISE 10 AROUND LOW 1008 HPA NEAR 24S 58E. EASTERLY TO NORTH

EASTERLY 15-25 ELSEWHERE. SEA ROUGH. SCATTERED SHOWERS WITH ISOLATED

THUNDERSTORMS IN SOUTH WEST. VISIBILITY POOR IN SHOWERS.

SOUTH EAST 8/2: SAME AS TTT WARNING.

REMAINDER 8/2: SOUTH EASTERLY TO EASTERLY 15-20 IN WEST. SOUTHERLY TO

SOUTH WESTERLY 10-20 IN NORTH EAST. SCATTERED SHOWERS. SEA ROUGH IN

EXTREME WEST AND VERY ROUGH ELSEWHERE. VISIBILITY MODERATE IN

SHOWERS.

8/3: EAST SOUTH EASTERLY TO SOUTH EASTERLY 10-20. SEA MODERATE IN

NORTH EAST AND ROUGH ELSEWHERE. SCATTERED SHOWERS IN WEST. VISIBILITY

POOR IN SHOWERS.

8/4: EASTERLY TO EAST SOUTH EASTERLY 10-20 IN NORTH EAST. SOUTH

EASTERLY 15-25 ELSEWHERE. SEA MODERATE IN NORTH EAST AND ROUGH

ELSEWHERE. SCATTERED SHOWERS WITH ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS IN SOUTH.

VISIBILITY POOR IN SHOWERS.

8/5: SOUTH EASTERLY 05-10. SEA MODERATE. SCATTERED SHOWERS WITH

ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS IN SOUTH WEST. VISIBILITY POOR IN SHOWERS.

8/6: SOUTH EASTERLY TO SOUTHERLY 05-15 IN SOUTH. SOUTHERLY TO SOUTH

WESTERLY 05-10 IN NORTH. SEA MODERATE. ISOLATED THUNDERY SHOWERS IN

SOUTH WEST. VISIBILITY GOOD EXCEPT IN THUNDERY SHOWERS.

8/7: SOUTH EASTERLY TO SOUTHERLY 15-25. SEA ROUGH IN SOUTH EAST AND

MODERATE ELSEWHERE. ISOLATED SHOWERS. VISIBILITY GOOD.

PART IV: OUTLOOK FOR FURTHER 24HRS:

NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGE.=

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