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.
Find each named coastal, offshore, bay or lake zone along the route. For inlets, bars and tidal narrows add current local notices and observations; an offshore wave forecast does not describe the entrance.
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
A lake-wide forecast does not describe every exposed shore or harbour entrance.
A Great Lakes route can traverse long open fetch and a sheltered shore within the same day.
Use the exact US or Canadian lake marine zone, including wave and thunderstorm information. Seasonal ice and harbour access require their own current 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.
Nearshore and open lake are different products
A passage leaving the immediate shore needs the applicable open-lake product as well as departure and arrival nearshore forecasts. NWS Chicago's desk links these separately and provides short-term warnings and observation sources; use the responsible office for the chosen lake. At the Canadian side, obtain Environment Canada's district product. A US lake synopsis is not automatically the local forecast for the opposite shore.
- NWS Chicago and Great Lakes marine products — Nearshore, open-lake, short-term warnings and lake observations; use the responsible lake/office.
- Environment and Climate Change Canada marine — Canadian marine districts including Pacific and Great Lakes.
Fetch and measured water level need separate interpretation
Compare the wind direction with the full open-water fetch and the receiving shoreline rather than relying on the small distance from the marina to shelter. Lake level observations and wave guidance describe different hazards. Check the water temperature and any applicable ice information for the season; air temperature alone does not describe the consequences of immersion. Do not import an ocean tide prediction into a lake-level calculation.
- NWS Chicago and Great Lakes marine products
- NOAA CO-OPS Tides and Currents — Separate measured water levels, tide predictions, current predictions and model forecasts.
Test the return after a wind shift
For an island or opposite-shore outing, compare the outbound run with a return after the forecast direction changes. The initially sheltered shore can then become exposed. If a later departure moves arrival into stronger seas or a short-term marine warning, reconsider the destination rather than treating the trip as a fixed loop. A shorter alternative must still have verified harbour access and a forecast suited to its shoreline.
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.
- United States
Choose a bay, coastal, offshore, Great Lakes or ocean product for the actual track.