Weather sites for Pacific Mexico and Baja

Although in each major centre where yachties gather there is a local Net of VHF 22 that gives weather for the local region. Whilst this is good, the scary thing is that there are many yachts that rely totally on such forecasts. Sites below will assist with gleaning information for yourselves.


Here are some sites to start with:

Big picture stuff

http://www.tropicalstormrisk.com/
Our favourite for tropical information.

http://www.eebmike.com/
Wonderful sat picture and graphics for tropical information and sea
temperature.

http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/
Synoptic situation for Pacific and location of ITCZ

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/ensocycle/enso_cycle.shtml

For information regarding the current El Nino/La Nina state and ENSO situation, which then leads into an indication of the hurricane season in the Pacific and Caribbean and conditions in north and south Pacific if you are heading west.

Small picture weather

Grib files from sailmail (at sea) and  http://www.grib.us/  (internet connection) are what we generally use, then match these with the synoptic situation.

http://www.sailflow.com/
Navigate to Sea of Cortez (Baja California) or wherever you are in the US. Sailflow was accurate in the north and south crossings in the Sea of Cortez. Excellent for swell predition.

http://www.buoyweather.com/
Excellent for 2 day forecast for wind and swell and can also sign up for weather for 7 day forecast and access via sailmail.

http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/
Another site for grib data information

http://www.wetsand.com/
Others use this and like it.

http://www.sonrisanet.org/
Geary does a great forecast for the inside and outside of the Baja and Mexican Pacific Coast. Weather is posted on this website and also given on Ham Net in the mornings. See below for Nets.

http://weather.msfc.nasa.gov/GOES/goeswestpacusir.html
This is a great real time site using GOES imagery giving water vapour. Great to zoom in on Mexcio mainland for chubascos in the summer!!

http://www.clubcruceros.org/
More weather information on this site which is the local site for La Paz.

This site also gives information on times and frequencies for HF nets in the region