The Shipping Forecast is a BBC Radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the British Isles. It is produced by the Met Office and broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The forecast dates back over 150 years. There are currently two or three broadcasts per day at the following times: 00:48, 05:20, and 17:54.
Shipping Forecast
Robert FitzRoy circa 1850
Icing can be a dangerous problem for ships; accurate forecasting can save lives by ensuring crews are prepared
Marine weather forecasting
Marine weather forecasting is the process by which mariners and meteorological organizations attempt to forecast future weather conditions over the Earth's oceans. Mariners have had rules of thumb regarding the navigation around tropical cyclones for many years, dividing a storm into halves and sailing through the normally weaker and more navigable half of their circulation. Marine weather forecasts by various weather organizations can be traced back to the sinking of the Royal Charter in 1859 and the RMS Titanic in 1912.
Royal Charter.
RMS Titanic departing Southampton on 10 April 1912
Surface temperature in the western North Atlantic, the Gulf Stream is in red
North Pacific storm waves as seen from the NOAA M/V Noble Star, Winter 1989.
