Lots knocked out here
BBC Shipping forecasts

On Radio 4 on 198 KHz Long wave. Be careful here as the frequencies for LW and MW are very close together. It is all too easy to miss the forecast because you are listening to the wrong Radio 4 broadcast.

The shipping forecast is broadcast at time of writing at the following times. NB, recently these times have been changing so check up in the "Radio Times"

0048 UT, 0535 UT, 1200 local time and 1755 local time. Local time means the clock time, which is different at various times of the year.

The forecast is in four parts.

1. The first is any "Gale Warnings".
    
2. Next comes the "General Synopsis".
   This tells us where the weather systems are and where they are likely to be going.
    
3. Next are the "Sea Area Forecasts" for the next 24 hours.
   You have probably heard the radio rambling through "Viking, North Utsire, South Utsire, Forties Cromarty" etc before you got sick of it and changed channels? Those were the area forecasts. Most people do turn it off, but the seaman’s ear is glued to the radio at that time. The information is crucial for his safety. For each area or group of areas, we hear the wind direction and strength and any changes. See Using the "Beaufort scale" The precipitation (rain, hail, snow etc) and then the visibility.
    
4. Next are the "Coastal Station Reports" These are now only broadcast at 0048 and 0535. This is unfortunate.

They tell us exactly what weather is happening at various points around the British Isles. We hear first the wind direction and strength, precipitation, visibility, pressure, then pressure change. With experience, this allows us to decide where fronts have passed by or are just about to hit. Very useful.

To hear an example shipping forecast, Click Your Browser has no Sound support

Sorry it doesn't work on the web!