As my departure date draws near, one thing I was thinking I’d miss without internet is NOAA/NDBC buoy data.
Over the years, data from these buoys have been instrumental in my weather- and condition-related decision-making processes.
They offer near-real-time information about actual wind and sea state. How useful is that?
Recently I was wondering… Is this buoy data available offshore? The answer, it turns out, is YES.
There are two ways discussed here: FTPMail and Dial-A-Buoy.
FTPMail
If you’re already using FTPMail for synoptic charts, etc. then this is for you.
Send email to [email protected]:
open data.ndbc.noaa.gov cd data cd latest_obs get 46026.txt quit
…replace “46026” with the lower-cased ID of the buoy you’re interested in. In fact, the FTP server appears to be a mirror of the NDBC data directory.
Need to know what the buoy IDs are? See here.
Need to know what FTPMail is? Drop a comment below.
Dial-A-Buoy
If you’re within cell phone range, then call 888-701-8992. Enter 1, followed by the buoy ID (see above), and you’ll hear the most current data from that buoy.
