Beyond 24 hours its reliability quickly slips, as it true of most weather forecasting, of course. But remember-this service is at its best when you’re looking at the next day. You can look at forecasts showing wind speed and direction in three-hour increments, out to a week in advance.

It’s most useful to size the map to match the range of the area you’ll be boating in. You can zoom in on the map to view an area the size of a one-acre pond, or zoom out to view the entire nation (and then some). It breaks down wind speed into two-mph increments, which are color-coded for speed and overlaid on a map of the area you’re viewing.

FishWeather – Fishweather has excellent short-term wind forecasting in the 12 to 24 hour range. This is the one to check early in the week, before you even think about making plans for the weekend.

But NOAA’s long range (two to five day) outlook is relatively accurate and can still give you a good feeling for the general state of conditions to come. NOAA Marine Weather – As we already said, their day-before wind forecasts are often too generalized to be of any real use. Here’s the low-down on NOAA and other weather services that provide much more useable forecasts with a high degree of accuracy-and the pitfall of each. And since NOAA dumbed-down their weather forecasts, these options have become a necessary choice. Sitting at the computer you can access a number of helpful weather forecasting sites before you go boating. This is exactly the type of weather you want to avoid - so check the forecast closely, before leaving port.

Wunderground marine weather