This page summarizes all weather forecasts we’re using on Pitufa in addition to grib files. It includes weather bulletins, surface-analysis charts, cyclone warnings, El-Niño discussions, and of course all Saildocs codes. It also embeds all those current forecasts, so it may be a convenient all-in-one weather site for cruisers in French Polynesia. If you have any recommendations for other forecasts, let me know so I can add them to the page.
The embedded forecasts are not loaded by default to minimize traffic. Only the ones you leave open will be loaded automatically the next time you visit this page (this requires you to allow this page to store a cookie in your web browser).
You also might be interested in reading our article on the weather patterns in the South Pacific on-line on the Cruisingworld webpage.
Text bulletins
Meteo France 24h maritime forecast
This bulletin gives wind, seastate and swell forecasts for French Polynesian waters divided into 17 zones. When necessary, a “Bulletin Marine Speciale” (BMS) is included for strong-wind warnings or tropical depressions.
Meteo France web site: https://meteo.pf/fr/bulletin-meteo-marine
The 17 forecast zones are shown on this map:
To receive this forecast via Saildocs, add the line
send fr.poly
in the text body of your request email to query[AT]saildocs.com.
The Meteo France forecasters use only a small French vocabulary for this bulletin, should you still have difficulties understanding it, use this machine-translated English version:
Saildocs:
send fr.poly.en
Meteo France 2-day and 5-day forecasts (in French)
These bulletins give info not only on wind and swell but also on clouds and rain. We find them useful for planning shore activities. Unfortunately the forecasters use a rather rich, sometimes even poetic vocabulary.
Short forecast:
Meteo France web site: https://meteo.pf/fr/bulletin-meteo-courte-echeance
Saildocs:
send fr.poly.short
Long forecast:
Meteo France web site: https://meteo.pf/fr/bulletin-meteo-moyenne-echeance
Saildocs:
send fr.poly.long
NOAA (Honolulu) surface-analysis text bulletin, South Pacific 48h forecast
Web link: http://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/data/raw/fz/fzps40.phfo.hsf.sp.txt
Saildocs:
send FZPS40.PHFO
South (and Western North) Pacific Cyclone Situation
Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) Web Site: http://www.metoc.navy.mil/jtwc/jtwc.html
Bulletin link: http://www.metoc.navy.mil/jtwc/products/abpwweb.txt
Saildocs:
send abpw10.pgtw
Surface-analysis weather charts
Meteo France “Isofront” weather charts, 36h and 60h forecasts
Meteo France web site: https://meteo.pf/fr/isofronts
Saildocs provides compressed versions of these charts:
send pf.preiso36
send pf.preiso60
NOAA (Honolulu) surface-analysis weather faxes, 24h, 48h and 72h forecasts
NOAA’s web directory for weather faxes: http://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/fax/. Look for PYFE11, PYFI11, and PYFK11.
Saildocs provides compressed versions of these charts:
send PYFE11.TIF
send PYFI11.TIF
send PYFK11.TIF
Bob McDavitt’s weekly Weathergram
Every Sunday Bob McDavitt’s Weathergram discusses the weather in the South Pacific. Topics like Where and how active is the SPCZ the coming week? or Is it a good week to sail from Tahiti to Tonga or from Fiji to NZ? are discussed.
Web version without graphics: http://weathergram.blogspot.com/
Web version with graphics: https://metbob.wordpress.com
Saildocs:
send nz.wgrm
NOAA’s El-Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) discussion
Issued monthly.
NOAA web site: http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/ensodisc.html
or download pdf from http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/ensodisc.pdf
Saildocs:
send http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/ensodisc.html
Meteo France climate and cyclone-activity discussion and 3-week outlook
Issued every Tuesday during the cyclone season (between Nov. 1st and Apr. 30th)
Meteo France web site: https://meteo.pf/fr/point-hebdomadaire-saison-chaude
or download pdf from https://meteo.pf/sites/default/files/meteo_data/climat/pdf/point_saisonnier.pdf
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