Abaco's Weather in the Bahamas
The
Abaco Message Board
Abaco and General
Information
Abaco's Weather in the Bahamas
The
Abaco Message Board
Abaco and General
Information
U.S. Navy - FNMOC - Computer Weather Models.
Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC) Percipitation and wind forecasts out to 10 days. And if you've got a fast internet connection, you can view the forecasts as a Java movie
Radar
- A Long Range Base Reflectivity image with an active loop provided by
NOAA.
Man O War Cay Weather Station
and Foots
Cay Weather Station. Duncan Pitcairn provides us with the
current weather data and also has a cam with a view of the north end of
Man O War Cay which can be viewed at barometerbob.com.
We have no info on the Foots Cay Weather Station or who provides
it. We thank them also.
Green
Turtle Cay and Marsh
Harbour Observations and Predictions. Weather Underground provides
weather information and predictions.
Settlement Point-West End Now!! on the west end of Grand Bahama is about 100 miles west of Abaco and has the nearest automated weather station. The information includes wind speed and direction, air and sea temperatures and tidal height. There is no wave height data from Settlement Point but there are data bouys off the Florida coast that do give full data on the sea.
GOES East - This satellite image is updated hourly.
Satellite Image of Tropical Atlantic (~100k). Takes a moment to load, but worth the wait. Weather Underground
Miami Offshore Forecast We are in the section that's down the page a bit typically labeled "SW N ATLC S OF 32N AND W OF 65W", Marsh Harbour is pretty much at the center of Abaco at approximately 26.5N 77.0W, Abaco extends from a little south of 26N (Hole in the Wall) to a little north of 27N (Walker's Cay), Nassau is at 25N. The weather is often described in terms of W/E and SW/NE lines through our area.NOAA - At the bottom you will find the "outlook".
Miami
Coastal Forecast ATLANTIC COASTAL WATERS
FROM
JUPITER INLET TO OCEAN REEF OUT 60 NM.....
The section "ATLANTIC COASTAL WATERS FROM JUPITER INLET TO OCEAN REEF
OUT 60 NM" is a good indicator of our summer weather. When cold fronts
come in from the northwest, you can monitor the front's progress across
northern Florida to gauge the time it might reach Abaco and to get a
feeling
for its strength and the temperatures involved.NOAA - At the
bottom you will find the "outlook" here also.
Tide Calculator. This site automatically calculates the tides for the present period at Pelican Cay just south of Elbow Cay, you can compute tides for other periods as well. For any practical purpose these times apply everywhere in the Sea of Abaco The tides on the western shore of Abaco are highly variable with the winds but generally run 1 to 2 hours behind these. University of South Carolina.
Tropical Outlook from National Hurricane Center University of California, Davis
If you would like a really interesting article on Breezes,
Gales,
etc., look at the US National Weather Service page from their
Chicago
office: The
Beaufort Wind Scale
The weather on Abaco does follow the seasons with five very distinctive weather patterns. They all have their virtures, but you need to plan your activities around the weather, especially as far as boating is concerned.Winter - January through March, maybe into April Once the cold fronts begin coming across the US in earnest, Abaco gets almost all of them, some more vigorously than others. Notice that Abaco is on the East Side of the Gulf Stream. This moderates a slow moving front but means that once a front passes and the northeast winds settle in, the winds are coming across the open Atlantic and we don't have the protection of the warm waters of the Stream.
This can be fine weather for activities ashore: Tennis, golf, visiting friends, shopping, exploring, diving in the Blue Holes, kayaking in the creeks and bights, birdwatchng, or just reading a book on the sunny side of the house. Northerners swim in the pools and the sea - Bahamians won't go in without a wetsuit. Offshore and reef activties have to wait for breaks in the weather, which occur frequently throughout the period - but you don't make plans without checking where the fronts are that are coming across the US. This is an excellent time for bonefishing in the shallow, protected flats and creeks, or "marls".
Spring - April and May The cold fronts weaken and come less frequently. Boating becomes more common and the water becomes warmer, Bahamians still wear wetsuits. The weather is dry and fresh water can become a problem on the cays where rainwater cisterns are the primary supply, but with reverse osmosis technology to make freshwater from the sea, the lack of rainfall in this period is not such a problem anymore. There is usually a nice breeze for the sailors but the sea is not too rough for fishing and diving from small boats.
Summer - June through August Now the sailors, fishermen, and divers can plan for good weather. Winds are light and variable, the sea is calm and warm, Bahamians leave off the wetsuits. Afternoon and night showers become common.
Tropical Weather - September and October The showers become more numerous, the wind is calm, and we all watch the tropical weather information. One good thing is that lobster is now in season (season starts in August), the water is calm, clear and warm. Afternoons are good for naps. The pace becomes slow, even by Bahamian standards.
Fall - November and December This period begins when the first of the cold fronts finally blow back in from the US. This ushers in drier, cooler weather, but these fronts are not frequent. Fall can last until after New Years. The water remains warm, the winds are still light and the sea calm. Perfect weather for almost any activity ashore or afloat, an excellent time to bring a boat across the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. In fact fall is often the best season anywhere. The nice thing about the Abaco fall is that you can experience fall further north and then come down and enjoy ours.
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