Pro tips for amateur maritime forecasters
The Weather Handbook (fourth edition), by Alan Watts
Image on landing page: double rainbow over the harbour at Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk, UK. Paul Stewart/Getty Images.
Accurate weather forecasts have always been important for seafarers – helping in passage planning and routing.
This latest edition of The Weather Handbook will no doubt be of great interest to working crew outside of required meteorology studies, and its facts about wind could be useful to those with sailing hobbies.
Written by former weather forecaster Alan Watts, the book has 16 chapters devoted to the various elements of the weather as well as a useful terminology and information section.
And as Watts encouragingly explains, we don't need the aid of massive computers, satellites and complex equipment to put together a basic forecast. With just a few essential tools such as a wind vane or even a flag, we can all understand enough not to get wet (in theory), and to divine a forecast of sorts from the 'upper sky'.
The Weather Handbook (fourth edition)
By Alan Watts
Adlard Coles, £16.99
ISBN: 978 14729 78592
Buy this book in the Nautilus Bookshop
While you're there, why not browse the rest of the titles in our unique maritime bookshop, which sells all the books reviewed on these pages.
Buy nowMore Books
Legendary Lusitania brought to life
HistoryNo less than five authors, Titanic experts and artists have come together to create two definitive (and rather beautiful) coffee table books about the Lusitania.
New edition of cargo-handling classic
Thomas' Stowage: The Properties and Stowage of Cargoes, 10th editionThe weighty textbook Thomas' Stowage has become the bible of cargo handling, with fresh editions periodically issued to take account of new legislation, new commodities and improved methods of handling and carriage.
Scottish shipbuilding within living memory
Leith-Built Ships Volume 4: Robb Caledon (1965-1984The popular Leith-Built Ships series has moved into a period within the memory of many Nautilus members. The vessels featured this time include the tug Lloydsman, which was involved in the Icelandic 'cod wars', and the Falklands War hospital ship HMS Herald.
Engrossing ship history of a slave transporter-turned-liberator
Predator of the Seas by Stephen TaylorA ship biography like no other, Predator of the Seas has a fascinating subject – the Black Joke, which surely stands out as one of the most remarkable vessels of all time.