Book about Beaufort

[rbgarr]

Defining the Wind has been mentioned in a few posts, and it is a fascinating book with really interesting surprises. The concise verbal descriptions included in the Beaufort Scale, i.e., Force 9... chimney pots and slates removed... seem to have derived from observations made by a postal worker in Scotland (Forth: see below).

The Shipping Forecast daily radio broadcast(s) is something I was only vaguely aware of and will now seek out on the internet:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/UK_shipping_forecast_zones.png/400px-UK_shipping_forecast_zones.png (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:UK_shipping_forecast_zones.png) http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/magnify-clip.png (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:UK_shipping_forecast_zones.png)
Map of Sea Areas and Coastal Weather Stations referred to in the Shipping Forecast.


Here are the sea areas covering the waters around the British Isles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Isles):

Viking
North Utsire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utsira)
South Utsire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utsira)
Forties (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Forties)
Cromarty (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cromarty)
Forth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Forth)
Tyne (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Tyne)
Dogger (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogger_Bank)
Fisher (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisher_Bank)
German Bight (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Bight)
Humber (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humber)
Thames (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Thames)
Dover (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dover)
Wight (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Wight)
Portland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Portland)
Plymouth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth)
Biscay (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Biscay)
Trafalgar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Trafalgar)
FitzRoy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_FitzRoy) (formerly Finisterre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finisterre))
Sole (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sole_Bank)
Lundy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lundy)
Fastnet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fastnet)
Irish Sea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Sea)
Shannon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Shannon)
Rockall (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockall)
Malin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malin_Head)
Hebrides (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrides)
Bailey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Bailey_Bank)
Fair Isle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Isle)
Faeroes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faroe_Islands)
Southeast Iceland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland) The areas were roughly in the shape described above by 1949 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1949). Modifications after that include the introduction of Fisher (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisher_Bank) in 1955, when Dogger (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogger_Bank) was split in two. Heligoland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heligoland) was renamed German Bight (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Bight) the year later.
In around 1983 the Minches (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minches) sea area was merged with Hebrides (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrides).[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)] [1] (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=178023)
In 1984 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984), the areas in the North Sea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sea) were coordinated with those of other neighbouring countries, introducing North Utsire and South Utsire and reducing Viking (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking) in size. Finisterre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Finisterre) was renamed FitzRoy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_FitzRoy) (in honour of the founder of the Met Office (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Met_Office)) in 2002 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002) to avoid confusion with the Spanish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain) area of the same name.[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipping_Forecast#_note-0) Some names still differ; for example, the Dutch KNMI names the equivalent area to Forties after the Fladen Grounds (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fladen_Grounds&action=edit).
In the forecast, areas are named in a roughly clockwise direction, strictly following the order above. However, a forecast for Trafalgar is found only in the 0048 forecast - other forecasts do, however, report when there are warnings of gales in Trafalgar.

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/coast/shipping/

There is a listen button for those who want the full effect - soporific.
or

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/marine/shipping_forecast.html

[Hwyl]

It's really effective, every word has a precise meaning and only those words are used. It would be possible to teach a non english speaker to listen to the forecast in a couple of hours.

P.I. calls it soporific because he hasn't listened to the automated voice on the U.S. VHF weather channels. Enough to send a computer to sleep.

[Ron Williamson]

A while back we had a Scot and an Indian(from India)doing the local marine weather for Environment Canada.
They weren't very popular,especially when the reception was spotty.
Defining The Wind is a bit of a chore to read because it is technical and reasonably concise at times as well as being really wordy and breeezy at others.
Kinda like the editor only saw every other chapter.
R

[S/V Laura Ellen]

Jo gave me a copy a while ago. I thought it was a good read. I was pleasantly surprised, I thought it might be a little dry.

[Paul Pless]

Thanks Allan, I may start in on it tonight.