USNO Master Clock Time
The correct time, accurate to 0.2 seconds. Follows the sun in an illustrated look at a world map. If necessary, click the "reload" or "refresh" button on your web browser to update.


NOAA / National Weather Service Forecast
Detailed 7-Day Forecast for Southern Fairfield County, CT

NOAA Marine Forecast – If heading out from our Norwalk Base, start with the NOAA Marine Forecast for Norwalk Islands & Surrounding Areas in Long Island Sound. Before sailing, these local weather summaries are your best, quickest source of information about winds, weather, small craft warnings (when you should not be out) and other dangers, like strong cold fronts with thunderstorms. In general, we find that the marine forecast for Long Island Sound underestimates the local effect of the sea breeze. Southwest (SW) winds will often kick in sooner and will be 2-4 knots stronger than forecast. If you start to see puffy cumulus clouds forming just North of the Connecticut coast, count on the winds shifting to the South or Southwest, even if they are forecast to be out of the North. Any day with clear skies and winds less than 15 knots means that SW breezes are a good bet.

NOAA Tide Predictions – Tide table for station at Bridgeport, CT, station. Time difference for Norwalk: Add 9 minutes for High Tide; Add 15 minutes for Low Tide. Height Difference: Add 1.05 feet to predicted High Tide; Add 1.04 feet to predicted low tide.

NOAA Buoy Data
Realtime data of what the wind is doing, and how it's shifting using the prior 24-hour data. For local information, there will be a highlighted box over the NY metro region. Click on NOAA Buoy Data then click on ALSN6 for Long Island Sound info (comes from the Abrose Light Tower at the enterance to NY Harbor). The smaller stations are not as reliable, but Abrose rarely is down. The UConn bouys in the Long Island Sound 44040 (off Greenwich) or 44022 (Execution Rock) are more local, but often show less wind than we see. The New Haven Shoreside Station will provide a good comparison, with a better location for picking up the sea breeze. There are also now sensors located on the Bridgeport / Port Jefferson ferries. Click on the rectangular box over the Bridgeport to Port Jeff area to see the winds recorded on the latest ferry transit.

Atlantic Seaboard & Carribbean Forecasts - Scroll down the list until you get to the area you want. Start with the Synopsis for the big picture, then click on the local forecast. This will give you a fairly detailed forecast for 24 hours, and then winds for the next 4 days, which is very useful in planning your trip.

NOAA Zone Forecasts - After we get the basic weather and wind info, we often like to get a little more information. Our favorite basic weather site is the new NOAA site for zone forecasts. This will bring you to the Norwalk forecast. Type in the zip code or City, State to bring up the local forecast in other areas. Hazardous weather conditions come first, followed by a nice summary of the weather for the next 7 days. The first 3 days will include wind forecasts. If you are into weather, a particularly nice feature of this site is the forecast discussion (located lower right corner of the page under Additional Forecasts and Information), where the forecasters discuss what is interesting or uncertain in the forecast and review the big picture data. Weather forecasters use several different computer models to predict the weather, and these models do not always agree. When they don’t, the forecasters have to pick which model to use, and they often discuss this process. Very educational and interesting.

Intellicast Radar Data - The NOAA site above does not have a particularly good radar feature. For radar info, we prefer the Intellicast site. Again, you can type in the zip code or City, State to change the base location for the 7-day forecast, but the most useful feature is access to the radar data in the tool bar at the top of the page. The regional loop is the most useful feature for tracking rain as it approaches the region. Under Forecast in the tool bar, there are useful 24 - 48 hour weather charts with a current loop showing the progression of weather systems. Unlike the weather fax weather charts, these show cloud overlays, and you may find them more useful. We prefer conventional weather fax charts, however. See below.

Weather Faxes - Once you begin doing coastal or offshore passages, one of your best sources of weather information will be the NOAA weather charts. Click on Weather Faxes to get the latest charts. We normally print out 24-, 48-, and 96-hour charts before we head out on a trip. This helps make the local forecast more understandable, as you see where the highs and lows that create the weather conditions are heading.

The first charts as you scroll down are the Wind / Wave charts. These give a nice overall picture of what the wind will be doing over the next several days. Note that the arrows point to where the wind is going. The feathers at the back of the arrow indicate the wind strength. A long feather means 10 knots, a short feather means 5 knots, and a triangle means 50 knots. Add them up for the wind strength.

The surface charts that follow the wind charts allow you to see what is causing the wind, and are our favorite charts. Remember: tight isobars = lots of wind; spaced isobars = no wind (typically at the center of a high). For both lows and highs, you will normally see an arrow leading to the H or L, and an arrow leading away. These give the forecast position 24 hours before the forecast time (at the start of the arrow leading in) and 24 hours after the forecast (for the arrow leading away).

After the surface charts come the 500 mb charts, which show the jet stream direction and speed. The upper level winds steer and to a large degree, create the surface highs and lows. A fast moving jet stream that dips deeply over the east coast, then head north again over the Gulf Stream, is the key ingredient for a “perfect storm" which the weather service calls a rapidly intensifying low.

You may want to look at the users guide at this location for some basic weather info, or take our Advanced Cruising or Ocean Sailing Class, where we spend a fair amount of time looking at these things.

Note: There is normally both older and more recent info (check times) and you will need either a tif or gif viewer. Times given are for GMT or Zulu time, which is 5 hrs ahead of the East Coast (or 4 hrs when daylight savings time is used). Subtract 5 hrs (or subtract 4 hrs from EDT) to convert GMT to East Cost Time.

Bermuda Weather puts out a useful set of North Atlantic weather charts for the next 5 days, which combine surface and wind information into one chart. Whereas the NOAA charts err on the side of caution, and may show more wind, the Bermuda Charts are often more realistic. The Bermuda charts also show the same area for all 5 days, and are easier to compare day to day.

The US Navy puts out tons of very interesting weather analysis. They provide the basic Gulf Stream charts we use, and also some very useful wind forecasts. (https://www.fnmoc.navy.mil/PUBLIC/)