Marine Weather Services new coastal waters formats

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About changes to Bass Strait and Victorian Coastal Waters forecasts

A number of changes to the Bureau's Bass Strait and Victorian Coastal Waters forecast services are scheduled to occur from Wednesday 2 November 2005.

Forecasts will be issued in the early morning and late afternoon. Updates will be issued at other times if the weather pattern changes markedly from that described in the current forecast. In addition, and to provide a better service for mariners, sea and swell information will be included on the third and fourth days of the forecast.

The forecast areas around Australia have undergone some changes to better represent the 60 nautical mile coastal boundary (see map following). The individual zone names will also change to better describe the coastal areas.

To avoid overlap, the current "Southern Bass Strait" forecast zone will no longer form part of the Victorian coastal waters service (see Table 1). Forecasts for these waters will be divided into three coastal zones across northern Tasmania. These three zones will be included in the new "Bass Strait and approaches forecast" (shown with the symbol * in Table 2). The "Coastal Waters Forecasts for Tasmania" remain unchanged.

Table 1

Forecast name	Coastal zones included in forecast
Coastal Waters Forecast for Victoria Issue times: 5 am and 5 pm local time	West Coast, SA/VIC border to Cape Otway
	Central Coast, Cape Otway to Wilsons Promontory
	East Coast, Wilsons Promontory to 60 nautical miles east of Gabo Island.

For mariners who regularly transit Bass Strait, a special combination of forecast areas will be provided under the name “Bass Strait and approaches forecast”.

Table 2

Forecast name	Coastal zones included in forecast
Bass Strait and approaches Issue times: 5:30 am and 5:30 pm local time	Central Coast, Cape Otway to Wilsons Promontory (VIC)
	East Coast, Wilsons Promontory to 60 nautical miles east of Gabo Island. (VIC)
	* Far Northwest Coast, Sandy Cape to Stanley and King Island. (TAS)
	* Central North Coast, Stanley to the Northern Tip of Flinders Island. (TAS)
	* Banks Strait and Franklin Sound. (TAS)

If you need more information about these changes, or wish to provide feedback, then please contact your local Bureau office or alternatively you can email us at webmar@bom.gov.au

New map of Victorian and Tasmanian marine forecast zones from 2 November 2005.
Note that the new Bass Strait Forecasts include the following coastal zones shown on the map:
1. Central Coast (Vic)
2. East Coast (Vic)
3. Far NW Coast (Tas)
4. Central North Coast (Tas)
5. Banks Strait (Tas)

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