Weather radio

A self-contained device for receiving weather transmissions.

This receiver does not allow 2-way transmissions, but permits reception of weather forecasts broadcast on one of ten channels or frequencies. In the US, these are provided by NOAA and in Canada, by Environment Canada.

These forecasts are updated at least every hour, and repeat every 2-3 minutes, and contain information about Wind direction and speed, temperature, dew point, barometric pressure, wave and swell height, and regional weather trends. Very useful when you're out on the water and need up-to-the-minute reports.

The channels received on a weather radio are the same WX1-WX10 channels received on a marine VHF radio. However, most small weather radios only receive WX1 through WX7, as these are the channels used by NOAA. In Canada, the Coast Guard broadcasts marine forecasts on WX8 and WX9 - if you are buying a radio for use in Canada, see if you can find one with all ten channels.

There are also FRS radios that have weather radio receivers in them.

[edit] MAFOR Codes

MArine FORecast codes are sometimes broadcast on marine weather channels. These are numeric codes for a lake or region. There are several digits in sequence. Each of the digits provides a forecast for a specific characteristic, such as wind speed, direction and so on. For an explanation, see: http://www.mid-c.com/manmar/Appe0003.htm