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The Shipping Forecast is a BBC Radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the coasts of the British Isles. It is produced by the Met Office and broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The forecasts sent over the Navtex system use a similar format and the same sea areas. The waters around the British Isles are divided into 31 sea areas, also known as weather areas (see map below) There are four broadcasts per day at the following (UK local) times:

• 0048 – transmitted on FM and LW. Includes weather reports from an extended list of coastal stations at 0052 and an inshore waters forecast at 0055 and concludes with a brief UK weather outlook for the coming day. The broadcast finishes at approximately 0058.
• 0520 – transmitted on FM and LW. Includes weather reports from coastal stations at 0525, and an inshore waters forecast at 0527.
• 1201 – normally transmitted on LW only.
• 1754 – transmitted only on LW on weekdays, as an opt-out from the PM programme, but at weekends transmitted on both FM and LW.

The unique and distinctive sound of these broadcasts has led to their attracting an audience much wider than that directly interested in maritime weather conditions. Many listeners find the repetition of the names of the sea areas almost hypnotic, particularly during the night-time broadcast at 0048 UK time.

History

In October 1859, the steam clipper Royal Charter was wrecked in a strong storm off Anglesey; 450 people lost their lives. Due to this loss, Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy introduced a warning service for shipping in February 1861, using telegraph communications. This remained the United Kingdom's Met Office primary responsibility for some time afterwards. In 1911, the Met Office began issuing marine weather forecasts which included gale and storm warnings via radio transmission for areas around Great Britain. This service was discontinued during and following the First World War, between 1914 and June 1921, and again during the Second World War between 1939 and 1945.

Today, although most ships have onboard technology to provide the Forecast's information, they still use it to check their data.

On Friday 30 May 2014, for the first time in more than 90 years, the BBC failed to broadcast the Shipping Forecast at 5:20 am. Staff at Broadcasting House were reading out the report but it was not transmitted. Listeners instead heard BBC World Service.

Region names

The 31 sea areas covering the waters around the British Isles are as defined by the map shown here:

• Viking
• North Utsire
• South Utsire
• Forties
• Cromarty
• Forth
• Tyne
• Dogger
• Fisher
• German Bight
• Humber
• Thames
• Dover
• Wight
• Portland
• Plymouth
• Biscay
• Trafalgar
• FitzRoy
• Sole
• Lundy
• Fastnet
• Irish Sea
• Shannon
• Rockall
• Malin
• Hebrides
• Bailey
• Fair Isle
• Faeroes
• Southeast Iceland

The areas were already roughly as listed above by 1949. Later modifications include the introduction of Fisher in 1955, when Dogger was split in two. Heligoland was renamed German Bight a year later. Around 1983, the Minches sea area was merged with Hebrides. In 1984, the areas in the North Sea were coordinated with those of neighbouring countries, introducing North Utsire and South Utsire and reducing Viking in size. Finisterre was renamed FitzRoy in 2002, to avoid confusion with the (smaller) sea area of the same name used in the marine forecasts produced by the French and Spanish meteorological offices. Some names still differ; for example, the Dutch KNMI names the area equivalent to Forties after the Fladen bank, while Météo-France calls the English Channel sea areas Dover, Wight, Portland, and Plymouth respectively Pas de Calais, Antifer, Casquets, and Ouessant.

In the forecast, areas are named in a roughly clockwise direction, strictly following the order above. However, a forecast for Trafalgar is found only in the 0048 forecast – other forecasts do, however, report when there are warnings of gales in Trafalgar.

Origin of names

• Viking, Forties, Dogger, Fisher, Sole and Bailey are named after sandbanks.
• Cromarty, Forth, Tyne, Humber, Thames and Shannon are named after estuaries.
• Wight, Lundy, Fair Isle, Faeroes, Portland, Hebrides, South-East Iceland and Utsire are named after islands.
• The German Bight is an indentation on the Northern European shoreline.
• Dover and Plymouth are named after towns.
• Rockall and Fastnet are both named after islets.
• Malin is named after Malin Head, the northernmost point of Ireland.
• Biscay is named after the Bay of Biscay, and Trafalgar after Cape Trafalgar
• FitzRoy is named after Robert FitzRoy, the first professional weatherman, captain of HMS Beagle and founder of the Met Office

Inshore waters

The Shipping Forecast includes a 'general situation' update for the British Isles, followed by a forecast for inshore waters of the United Kingdom, divided by area. These areas are:

1. Cape Wrath – Rattray Head including Orkney
2. Rattray Head – Berwick-upon-Tweed
3. Berwick-upon-Tweed – Whitby
4. Whitby – Gibraltar Point
5. Gibraltar Point – North Foreland
6. North Foreland – Selsey Bill
7. Selsey Bill – Lyme Regis
8. Lyme Regis – Land's End including the Isles of Scilly
9. Land's End – St David's Head including the Bristol Channel
10. St David's Head – Great Orme Head including St George's Channel
11. Great Orme Head– Mull of Galloway
12. Isle of Man
13. Lough Foyle – Carlingford Lough (covers the entire coastline of Northern Ireland)
14. Mull of Galloway – Mull of Kintyre including the Firth of Clyde and the North Channel
15. Mull of Kintyre – Ardnamurchan Point
16. Ardnamurchan Point – Cape Wrath
17. Shetland Isles

Broadcast format

The forecast, excluding the header line, has a limit of 370 words, and has a very strict format. It begins with "And now the Shipping Forecast, issued by the Met Office on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency at xxxx today." This format is followed quite strictly, although some continuity announcers read out the actual date of issue as opposed to the word "today". Gale warnings (winds of force 8 or more, on the Beaufort scale), if any (e.g. "There are warnings of gales in Rockall, Malin, Hebrides, Bailey, and Fair Isle"). This sometimes follows the opposite format (e.g. "There are warnings of gales in all areas except Biscay, Trafalgar and FitzRoy").

The General Synopsis follows, giving the position, pressure (in millibars) and track of pressure areas (e.g. "Low, Rockall, 987, deepening rapidly, expected Fair Isle 964 by 0700 tomorrow"). Each area's forecast is then read out. Several areas may be combined into a single forecast where the conditions are expected to be similar. Wind direction is given first, then strength (on the Beaufort scale), followed by precipitation, if any, and (usually) lastly visibility.

Change in wind direction is indicated by "veering" (clockwise change) or "backing" (anti-clockwise change). Winds at or above force 8 are also described by name for emphasis, i.e. Gale 8, Severe Gale 9, Storm 10, Violent Storm 11 and Hurricane force 12. The word "force" is only officially used when announcing force 12 winds. Visibility is given in the format "Good", meaning that the visibility is greater than 5 nautical miles (9.3 km; 5.8 mi); "Moderate", where visibility is between 2 and 5 nmi (3.7 and 9.3 km; 2.3 and 5.8 mi) nautical miles; "Poor", where visibility is between 1000 metres and 2 nautical miles and "Fog", where visibility is less than 1,000 m (3,300 ft). When severe winter cold combines with strong winds and a cold sea, icing can occur, normally only in sea area Southeast Iceland; if expected, icing warnings (light, moderate or severe) are given as the last item of each sea area forecast.

Examples of area forecasts:

• "Humber, Thames. Southeast veering southwest 4 or 5, occasionally 6 later. Thundery showers. Moderate or good, occasionally poor."
• "Tyne, Dogger. Northeast 3 or 4. Occasional rain. Moderate or poor."
• "Rockall, Malin, Hebrides. Southwest gale 8 to storm 10, veering west, severe gale 9 to violent storm 11. Rain, then squally showers. Poor, becoming moderate."
• "Southeast Iceland. North 7 to severe gale 9. Heavy snow showers. Good, becoming poor in showers. Moderate icing."

And most spectacularly, on 10 January 1993, when a record North Atlantic low pressure of 914 mb was recorded:

• "Rockall, Malin, Hebrides, Bailey. Southwest hurricane force 12 or more."

With the information provided in the Shipping Forecast it is perfectly possible to compile (and then interpret) a pressure chart for the coasts of North Western Europe. Extended shipping forecasts (0520 and 0048) also include weather reports from a list of additional coastal stations and automatic weather logging stations, which are known by their names, such as "Channel Light Vessel Automatic"; these are the Coastal Weather Stations. This additional information does not fall within the 370 word restriction. (RTÉ Radio 1 broadcasts similar coastal reports for Ireland).

The extended forecast also includes an inshore waters forecast.

Gale warnings

In addition, gale warnings are broadcast at other times between programmes and after news; for example

"That was the news, and now 'attention all shipping', especially in sea areas German Bight and Humber: The Met Office issued the following gale warning to shipping at 2206 today. German Bight, west or northwest gale 8 to storm 10, expected imminent. Humber, west gale 8 or severe gale 9, expected soon. That completes the gale warning."

When giving a gale warning the Met Office will indicate a time interval for when they expect the gale to occur. "Imminent" means that a gale is expected within 6 hours, "Expected soon" that a gale is expected within 6 to 12 hours and "Later" in more than 12 hours time.

Frequencies

The Shipping Forecast is broadcast on BBC Radio 4 because its longwave signal can be received clearly at sea all around the British Isles regardless of time of day or radio conditions. For the same reason, the Shipping Forecast was broadcast in the BBC National Programme until September 1939, and then after the Second World War on the BBC Light Programme (later BBC Radio 2) until November 1978: these services were all broadcast on longwave. When BBC Radio 4 took over the longwave frequency from Radio 2 on 23 November 1978, the Shipping Forecast moved to Radio 4.

"Mini" shipping forecast, maritime safety

The Shipping Forecast should not be confused with similar broadcasts given by HM Coastguard to vessels at sea tuned into Marine VHF and MF radio frequencies.

HM Coastguard's broadcasts can only be heard by vessels or persons using or tuned into marine VHF and MF radio frequencies, whereas the Shipping Forecast can be heard by anyone tuned into BBC Radio 4.

The Coastguard's broadcasts follow the same format as the shipping forecast using the same terminology and style, but the information only normally applies to the area sector or region covered by that particular Coastguard Co-ordination Centre (such as the Bristol Channel, for instance).

Announcements of pending broadcasts by HMCG is given on marine Channel 16 VHF and is normally announced along the lines of "All stations. This is Portland Coastguard... Maritime Safety Information will now be Broadcast on Channel 23... Portland Coastguard."

A similar broadcast on MF is initially announced on 2182 kHz, with a further frequency specified, e.g. 1770 kHz. It is worth noting here that VHF optimum range is approximately 30 nautical miles (NM), effectively line of sight, whereas MF range is much greater at approximately 150 NM, allowing ships in the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea to receive the broadcast.

As with the Shipping Forecast many people from a non-maritime background have been fascinated by this little known and very important service to the extent that they have bought handheld maritime radios purposely to listen to Coastguard Safety and Weather announcements. It is probably for the same reasons outlined later in this article about the main shipping forecast that it has such a committed fanbase.

Online

The Shipping Forecast is published online by the Met Office and the BBC.

The daily 0048 forecast is available online via BBC iPlayer.

1. "Met Office Shipping Forecast key". metoffice.gov.uk. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
2. Met Office (2012). "National Meteorological Library and Fact Sheet 8 – The Shipping Forecast" (PDF). 1. pp. 3–5. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
3. ^ Peter Jefferson (2012). "Secrets of the Shipping Forecast". The Radio Times. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
4. Mark Sweney. "BBC fails to air Shipping Forecast for first time in more than 90 years". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
5. ^ "Shipping forecast loses household name". BBC News. 3 February 2002. Retrieved 17 December 2007.
6. Météo France. "Guide pratique – Marine (pdf file)" (PDF). Retrieved 18 November 2014.
7. ^ "UK shipping forecast". Met Office. Archived from the original on 28 January 2007. Retrieved 17 December 2007. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)