With stormy conditions forecast, boat users leave their boats safely moored at Hastings, Victoria. Photo: Mike Rosel.

After extensive consultation with users of marine services, the Bureau made a major improvement to its coastal waters forecast service in June by extending forecasts for all Australian coastal waters out to four days. A new uniform format for the forecasts includes sea and swell information in all coastal forecasts for at least the first two days of the forecast period. In Western Australia, coastal forecast bulletins were reorganised to better meet user and operational requirements. Nationally, the Bureau restructured its high frequency(HF) marine radio broadcasts to carry the extended range coastal waters forecasts.

New graphical and tabular products were introduced in December for weekend forecasts for Sydney local waters, as part of the development of the Bureau's new Australian Marine Forecasting System. The new products are on the Bureau's website.

These improvements will allow boat users to more effectively understand, plan for and respond to, the specific weather conditions of the marine environment.