This is a pre-passage source and decision desk, not a current forecast or clearance to depart. The map is centred approximately on the area, not on your route or a forecast-zone boundary.
This is a geographic source directory, not an indication that a passage is permissible. Check current maritime restrictions, port-authority instructions and navigation warnings independently of the weather forecast.
1. Primary sources
Open current bulletins and warnings for every sea area on the route. These links are starting points, not a promise that each covers the whole location; if unsure, identify the issuer through WMO–IMO.
2. Route and local effects
Forecast and navigation responsibility changes across national waters; verify current notices.
A Black Sea crossing may pass several national forecast and maritime-control areas; list each before departure.
Identify the responsible issuer through WMO–IMO and national bulletins, and check current navigation restrictions and notices separately. This page does not assess whether sailing is permitted.
How to use this source set
Start with the warning, then the marine text for the exact named area. If the route crosses a zone boundary, obtain both bulletins. Note issue and valid times, wind units and the meaning of wave height. Where a link opens an agency portal, navigate to its current marine product; a homepage is not itself a forecast.
Compare with an exposed station or buoy if available. Check its position and observation time: a sheltered station does not overturn a warning for an open channel. If a bulletin is missing or stale, identify the issuing service via WMO–IMO and defer the decision until current information is available.
Before-passage check
- Mark departure, exposed legs, arrival and feasible diversions; find the responsible named marine areas for each.
- Check warnings, issue and valid times; assess conditions when you expect to reach each leg, not only at departure.
- Compare wind and gusts, waves and swell, visibility, thunderstorms and local effects; do not infer a strait from a sheltered harbour.
- Compare recent observations where available, noting their time and exposure; a mismatch calls for another check.
- Set the next bulletin check, a reassessment trigger, an alternative and a backup communication channel.
Model map — optional
Windy is a third-party model display, not the issuer of official warnings. Choose a layer and check its valid hour and model run. Nothing loads until you click.
Without JavaScript, open the map separately.
If connectivity fails
Before departure, save the current official text bulletin and warning with issue time. Arrange another way to receive updates, such as an appropriate coastal broadcast, NAVTEX or satellite channel. A saved map cannot replace new warnings.
How to choose weather tools · All sailing areas
Scope: Source list assembled 25 September 2026; check its freshness and coverage before use. This public area guide is not a current personalised forecast, navigational notice service or safety verdict. Personalised forecasts with AI and experts are in closed testing; public booking is not open. The skipper makes the decision.
Local passage-planning dossier
Keep national forecast responsibility and maritime restrictions separate from the weather comparison.
Forecast sectors and coverage
Use Bulgarian NIMH for applicable Bulgarian waters and MGM for Turkish coastal products. For another national coast, identify its issuing service through WMO–IMO and the local dossier; these two products do not cover the whole Black Sea.
Weather-sensitive legs
A sea crossing and a permitted coastal movement are separate questions. Verify current port/maritime instructions independently; the presence of a weather page does not mean that a route is open or lawful to use.
Observations, sea state and reassessment
Record the source age and the actual sea sector. Do not substitute a weather map for unavailable official warnings, and do not describe missing data as an all-clear.
Worked planning scenario — not a live forecast
Before a coastal leg, list forecast coverage, destination information and restrictions as separate checks. If one of them cannot be established, preserve the unresolved item rather than letting the model comparison erase it.
Official products by task
- Bulgaria NIMH marine — Bulgarian marine products; not a Black Sea-wide forecast or maritime clearance.
- MGM 24-hour marine forecast — Turkish coastal sea products; choose Aegean or Mediterranean section as applicable.
- WMO–IMO METAREA directory — Identify the responsible issuer for a high-seas area; follow through to the current issuing product.
Sector names help you locate the issuing product; they are not an automatic route-coverage match. Open the current issue and check boundaries, issue time and validity. This page does not display current warnings; an unavailable product does not mean no hazard.
Build your passage brief
Bring your route, leg timings, vessel and crew profile, checked sources and reassessment triggers into the brief. Personal AI analysis and expert review are available to invited closed-test participants; a port page does not extend the calculation service’s coverage.
A Sailing Weather editorial guide to local conditions, practical passage preparation and marine-weather sources. Source and structure review: 27 September 2026. For a specific passage, check current issues, validity and forecast coverage. The skipper retains the final decision and responsibility.
Do not extend one coast's bulletin across the basin
MGM's daily marine text separates Turkish eastern and western Black Sea sectors and Marmara. Use these to orient a Turkish coastal leg, not to replace the issuing service for Bulgaria, Romania or Georgia. For a basin crossing, list the actual national and high-seas products and their valid periods. A land thunderstorm warning and a marine wind/sea bulletin are different layers, even when issued by the same institution.
- MGM daily marine text — Separate east/west Turkish Black Sea and Marmara sectors with time periods.
- WMO–IMO marine warning directory — METAREA issuer discovery; products may be delayed, national issuer remains authoritative.
The destination's exposure decides the wave question
Mark open coast, cape and intended harbour separately. Compare wind direction, sea direction and the time of a forecast change at the approach, not only at the departure town. A basin-scale surface-current layer does not describe the flow through a harbour entrance or a strait. If observations are limited to a sheltered shore, state the offshore evidence gap rather than presenting the whole track as measured.
Weather readiness and permission stay separate
Maintain two independent checklists: current weather evidence and current maritime/port authority instructions. A new favourable model run cannot resolve an unknown port status or navigation warning. In a coastal scenario, reassess before the last confirmed refuge if the arrival sea state changes or a required official issue cannot be obtained. Do not convert an unavailable national service into a confident AI summary of 'no warnings'.
- WMO–IMO marine warning directory
- Directorate General of Coastal Safety — Strait traffic opening/suspension information and official maritime communication links.
Editorial review of this material: 27 September 2026. This date concerns the page content; check current forecast issue times and validity at the original sources.