News that there would be a reduced Shipping Forecast from BBC radio this spring led to mutterings of discontent among some devotees of this great British institution. But has anyone actually changed their routines at sea accordingly? No? That’s hardly surprising, given the traditional Shipping Forecast was superseded by online offerings more than two decades ago.
From at-a-glance synoptic charts giving graphic weather information through barometric lines and well-defined frontal systems to interactive sites like PredictWind or Windy, the old business of listening to the BBC Radio 4 announcer and taking down details in some form of shorthand became irrelevant for many sailors years ago, unless you were a long way offshore or could not get online.
As for making your own pressure and frontal system maps, based on the more detailed information from the coastal stations’ weather reports… well, we should offer a bottle of something good to anyone who still does that.
Last year the BBC announced it would ceaseForecast has been broadcast four times a day. It would make it the same as its output for Radio 4 on FM or DAB, where there have been only two Shipping Forecast broadcasts during the week, at 0048 and 0520.
