Subscription Features

Pro2 has many features, which are only available to subscribers. These include: high resolution forecast data; wave and tidal stream data; ocean current and sea surface temperature data; the ability to view Pro2 full-screen; The GRIB download and email options.

If you haven't already subscribed, you can explore those features by taking out a FREE 14-day trial to the Pro2 package of your choice: Choose STANDARD, PLUS or PREMIUM and use all the subscription features completely free for 14 days.

Group or Single Mode

By selecting 'Group' in the 'Mode' dropdown, you will be able to view more than one forecast type at the same time. For example, in the 'Forecasts' dropdown you could choose Wind, Pressure and Precipitation and these three forecast parameters would then be displayed for your chosen area at the same time. We recommend however that you don't choose to display Pressure and Temperature at the same time. That's because both use contour lines to display the data: Isobars connect points of equal pressure on the map, and isotherms connect points of equal temperature. Two different sets of contour lines on the same map can be confusing.

If you select 'Group' in the 'Mode' dropdown, you will be able to view more than one forecast type at the same time. For example, in the 'Forecasts' dropdown you could choose Wind, Pressure and Precipitation and these three forecast parameters would be displayed for your chosen area at the same time. However you may sometimes prefer to view these forecast parameters separately in Single Mode, because then the data can then be displayed using a colour scale. And if you choose to view Wind in Single Mode, the data will be displayed using both wind barbs and the familiar colours of the Beaufort scale.

Some forecast parameters - Wave and Tidal Stream - can only be viewed in 'Single' Mode. That's because symbols or contour lines can't be used to display these forecast parameters. Instead, varying colours are used, and the information cannot be displayed clearly if it's viewed together with symbols, contour lines or other colours. So if you're trying to get Wave or Tidal Stream and Pro2 won't load, it's worth checking that you haven't selected 'Group' Mode - you'll need to select 'Single' Mode.

Animation

You can run an animation of the full forecast period that you've selected by selecting 'Play All', which is the first item on the date dropdown. The forecast is available for six days for Standard or Medium Resolution (GFS) data, four days for High Resolution, and two days for Super High Resolution. You can choose to run the animation in three or six hour time steps for Standard or Medium Resolution data.

If you're running the animation over a large geographical area we recommend choosing six hour time steps, since the changes in the weather over a large area won't be so apparent if you run three hour steps. Conversely, it can be more useful to choose shorter time steps if the geographical area you've specified is relatively small. For that reason one hour steps are available if you're looking at High or Super High Resolution weather data.
 

File Size

Forecast data is delivered as .png overlays for the exact area being viewed within the Pro2 interface. In standard screen size and with an average broadband connection each overlay is delivered in < .5 of a second. In full screen mode a single overlay can take between 0.5 and 3 seconds as the image is much larger, thus takes longer to download. Also, as all images are created on the fly, the larger the area you select and the more parameters you choose the fractionally longer it will take to create.

Look at the Forecast in Advance

Get into the habit of starting to look at the forecast several days before you intend to be on the water, and over a larger geographical area than your immediate local area. Maybe you're going to be sailing off the Atlantic coast of France or Spain or off the South coast of England at the weekend. If you start looking at the weather in advance, and choose a large geographical area to include the entire Atlantic, you'll be able to animate the weather systems as they form and move towards your local area. You'll be able to get a good idea of how those systems are going to develop and affect your sailing area. You can also develop and monitor your own weather-forecasting expertise by checking a couple of times a day to see how well your predictions match the changing reality!

View the Forecast Using Different Resolutions

Several days in advance of your trip, it's useful to look at the weather systems and patterns in the big picture - look at a large geographical area in medium resolution.

As the weekend approaches it may be more useful to switch to high resolution data and zoom in more to your local area. Now you'll be able to see more precisely and clearly what the wind and waves look like exactly where you'll be sailing, and in the immediate surrounding areas.

And if you going to be sailing relatively close to land, the high resolution forecast data will be especially useful, as it will be able to pick out small more localised weather features that lower resolution data will miss.

High Resolution Data

Our high and super high resolution NMM data (~1, ~4, ~8 and ~10km) depending on the geographical area) covers a very large area including all of Europe from Scandinavia in the North down to the Mediterranean in the South, including the Mediterranean coast of Africa. It also covers: The Atlantic, including the Atlantic coast of North America, and the Caribbean; the East and West of the US and Alaska; and popular sailing areas of Australia, New Zealand, South America and South Africa.

To see the exact areas that high and super high resolution data covers, select the Resolution dropdown. When you select High Resolution you'll see the six areas covered by high resolution data, and clicking on any of these six will take you to that area on the map. Similarly, selecting Super High Resolution will show you the four areas covered, and clicking on any of them will take you to that area on the map.

We produce our own high and super high resolution data. Our numerical physicists take GFS data and run it through the high resolution NMM model to produce finer resolution data. High resolution data is especially recommended for all commercial marine applications, and for critical and racing applications. And it's also useful for all sailors who want to get a more precise forecast, particularly so for picking out small more localised weather systems that data produced using lower resolution models will miss. It's also relevant to safety issues - higher resolution gives you more detail and accuracy, enabling you to make the right decisions.

Animation

When you are running an animation of your requested forecast - over your chosen geographical area and with your chosen resolution and forecast parameters - if you then want to change your forecast requirements, just stop the animation and then zoom or pan to select a different geographical area, and/or change the resolution or forecast parameters, and the user interface will automatically request and deliver the new weather forecast data. You don't need to do anything other than amend your requirements, and you can then continue viewing your animated forecasts which will automatically change as you change your request.

Meteograms

If you want to find the current conditions and forecast for a specific location on the map, you should use the meteogram function, which gives you your weather data in graphical form for any point worldwide. First click the meteogram icon in the tool bar, to the right of 'Load'. Then use your mouse to double-click on the precise location within your selected area that you want to get data for and a meteogram will appear for your chosen point. Your chosen point can be over sea or land.

The meteogram will display data for wind speed, precipitation, temperature and pressure. The period covered by the meteogram depends on the resolution that you have selected for your data: Standard and medium resolution give you a six day forecast, high resolution is four days and super high covers two days. Depending on the resolution selected you can then choose the number of data points you want to see by choosing time steps of one (super high resolution only), three or six hours in the Time Step selection below the meteogram icon. You can hover over any point on a graph line to get the precise value for that point.