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.
A long high-latitude or transoceanic leg crosses forecast responsibilities and update cycles. Separate meteorology from current chart, ice, port and navigation warnings, and plan a dependable offshore receiving channel.
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
Remote landfall planning needs offshore warnings and a separate island approach.
A Falkland Islands arrival can be an exposed South Atlantic leg followed by an island-coast approach.
Use Falkland Islands Maritime Authority information for local forecasts and broadcast arrangements; identify the separate high-seas issuer via WMO–IMO and verify port and navigation notices.
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.
Stanley Harbour and the wider islands are not one scale
Falkland Islands Maritime Authority identifies distinct weather support for Stanley Harbour and the Falkland Islands Conservation Zone, supplied through its Met Office arrangement. Use that distinction when building a local approach or island-coast brief. For a long South Atlantic arrival, retain the appropriate high-seas product as a separate source. A land app for Stanley or Mount Pleasant is not automatically the marine issue for the intended outer coast.
- Falkland Islands Maritime Authority weather information — Stanley Harbour/FICZ forecast scope and local broadcast arrangements.
- WMO–IMO marine warning directory — METAREA issuer discovery; products may be delayed, national issuer remains authoritative.
Local broadcasts have local reach
The authority describes forecast and warning broadcasts within radio reach of Stanley, not guaranteed reception throughout a remote ocean approach. Confirm the current arrangement and actual equipment/channel availability before relying on it. Save the latest received issue with its time; a scheduled broadcast does not establish successful reception. Keep local navigation warnings and harbour instructions beside the weather evidence rather than folding them into a forecast score.
Rebuild a delayed remote landfall
For an offshore arrival, compare the revised ETA, wave direction and approach visibility with fresh local information. If progress or communication fails, reassess available refuge and remaining vessel endurance before treating a charted island indentation as shelter. The authority's current local notices and access information remain necessary. Weather suitable for the ocean leg does not establish a usable entrance, and a local harbour forecast does not validate the ocean behind it.
- Falkland Islands Maritime Authority weather information
- WMO–IMO marine warning directory
- RYA passage planning — Practitioner guidance on contingency, tides, vessel and crew constraints.
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.