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Pacific Weather Sources - On the Internet
July 2010

These are mainly for French Polynesia, westward to NZ, and northward to Hawaii.  These are all the goverment office forecast products that I have found to be useful. (and a few non-govt sites)

Global Weather Outlook from US NCEP

This is a two week outlook on major weather factors influencing the world.  It can help with longer range planning, and understanding what's making your wx happen.

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/precip/CWlink/ghazards/index.php

New Zealand Met

Current surface analysis:
http://www.metservice.com/national/maps-rain-radar/maps/sw-pacific-recent-latest

Surface Forecast Series (30, 48, 72H)
http://www.metservice.com/national/maps-rain-radar/maps/sw-pacific-future-series

These are great maps in small (PNG) format--about 16K per map. But not easily downloadable via email (appears to be no fixed product name for the graphics, unlike other offices' websites).

Australia Met

And here's for Australia. There may be a more user-friendly page, but I found this that seems to list all the products:

http://www.bom.gov.au/inside/itb/dm/idcodes/tables/current/difacs_products.shtml

http://www.weatherzone.com.au/

NOAA Charts in Color from Hawaii
Though these are highlighted in color (much easier reading), they are small files, only about 30K each.

Current Streamline and Streamline Loop:
http://www.prh.noaa.gov/hnl/graphics/stream.gif http://www.prh.noaa.gov/hnl/graphics/streamloop.gif

00, 24, 48, 72 Hr SFC Prog for Entire Pacific
http://www.prh.noaa.gov/hnl/graphics/pmsl.gif
http://www.prh.noaa.gov/hnl/graphics/24hrsfcprog.gif
http://www.prh.noaa.gov/hnl/graphics/48hrsfcprog.gif
http://www.prh.noaa.gov/hnl/graphics/72hrsfcprog.gif

Full List of Hawaii Marine Weather Products:
http://www.prh.noaa.gov/hnl/pages/marine.php

Satellite Pictures

The best starting place for South Pacific Infrared Loops is here:

http://www.goes.noaa.gov/sohemi/

When I had decent internet during cyclone season in the SW Pacific, here is what I watched.  It covers from Australia to 170 W and from the Equator down to NZ.

http://www.goes.noaa.gov/sohemi/sohemiloops/shirgmscol.html

Here is the lowest bandwidth sat picture I have been able to find.  It is likely available on a marine weather site somewhere, but this works well with crappy internet:

http://aviationweather.gov/data/obs/sat/intl/ir_ICAO-F_bw.jpg

This picture is updated about every 15 minutes, and if you download and save successive files, you can get a fairly nice moving satellite picture.

A color version is here:

http://aviationweather.gov/data/obs/sat/intl/ir_ICAO-F.jpg

If you're looking for a really tiny (70Kb) satellite picture highlighting the ITCZ, here it is:

http://www.prh.noaa.gov/hnl/satellite/cp_0000_ir.gif

(there is a version every 6 hours at 0000, 0600, 1200, 1800, vary the name accordingly).  This may not be offered during non-NPac-Hurricane season, but for sure is there May-Nov

Or this is the 'current' version (I don't know how often it is updated)

http://www.prh.noaa.gov/hnl/satellite/latest/CPAC_4km_IR.gif

FIJI Met Office

Fiji Met Office Maps and Satellite page
http://www.met.gov.fj/sat-map.html

They have some very good products, but some of them only start coverage west of 155 degrees West.

French Polynesia Met Office

Text forecast
http://www.meteo.pf/bulletin_marine.php

36 Hour Forecast Map
http://www.meteo.pf/previsions.php?carte=preiso36

Satellite photo - French Poly - Updated every half hour
http://www.meteo.pf/observation.php?carte=pf

Satellite photo - South Pacific - Updated every 3 hours
http://www.meteo.pf/observation.php?carte=ps

Tonga Weather Page

http://www.met.gov.to/

Bob McDavitt's Weekly Weathergram

http://weathergram.blogspot.com

An ECMWF Model View of the Weather

The ECMWF is a different model than the GFS, managed and published in Europe.  Some say it is more accurate in the SW Pacific GRIB GFS.  Unfortunately, I don't know of a way to get it via Sailmail, and the detailed forecasts just aren't there.  However, if the GFS forecast looks unbelievable, and you have access to internet, this is a good place to cross check with a different model.

Link for SE Pacific Map

Link for Mid Pacific Map

Link for SW Pacific Map

American Samoa's Site:

http://www.prh.noaa.gov/samoa/

Met VUW

Note this is mostly 'repackaged GRIB' files

http://metvuw.com/forecast/forecast.php?type=rain&region=spacific

Passage Weather

Note this is mostly 'repackaged GRIB' files

http://www.passageweather.com

Cyclone/Hurricane Information for the Pacific

http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/

http://tropic.ssec.wisc.edu/

In the SW Pacific, Fiji is supposed to be responsible for forecasting Tropical Weather.  However, IMHO, they are pretty miserable at doing so.  The US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center, is NOT responsible to SW Pac cyclones, but they do post info when something is happening, here:

http://www.usno.navy.mil/JTWC/

Fiji's Cyclone Site:

http://www.met.gov.fj/

Samoa's Site:

http://www.prh.noaa.gov/samoa/tropical_cyclones.php

 

South Pacific Weather Sources - At Sea

Understanding South Pacific Weather

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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