An excerpt from a typical radio forecast for the south to west coastline. But what if you are in a boat and miles from both - say at Loop Head off Co Clare - where the local conditions could be very different? Or you have a farm in south Galway, which experienced serious flooding over the Christmas period?
Oil and gas exploration, ferry transport, coastal construction, commercial fishing, marine tourism - these are just some of the activities which depend heavily on localised data.
A new west of Ireland company, Nowcasting International Ltd, has been set up to provide detailed, integrated short-range information which can be updated every hour.
The high technology company draws on wind and wave forecasts provided by Met Eireann and the Danish national weather service to define packages for individual requirements.
Based in Kilrush, Co Clare, the company is equipped with a computer server which accepts the incoming data, and then filters, formats and compresses it for transmission. The onshore or on-vessel customer is equipped with an "interface", running on a Windows '95, Windows '98 or Windows NT 4.0 computer.
The company says it is very accessible, and interpretation does not require specialist training.
Obviously the range, hourly intervals and highly localised format increases the accuracy of the forecast information. Compression of the details also reduces time and costs. Extras, like alarms for approaching unfavourable weather conditions, can be incorporated, and there is a 24-hour telephone support service.
Dr Mark White, chief executive of Nowcasting International, says the wave data is produced by a tried and tested modelling technique, known as WAM, which is verified against observational information supplied by the ERS-2 satellite, and from information transmitted by 11 moored British Meteorological Office buoys.
The wind data depends on high resolution limited area modelling, known as HIRLAM - a system which involves several European countries.
The safety benefits allow a ship's master or skipper to identify a "sailing window". Swell height, direction and duration is also identified for high-speed craft, given the weather limitations of fast ferries. The wave height forecasts are designed to match the high-speed craft code drawn up in co-operation with Britain's Maritime and Coastguard Agency. One of its customers is P & O Ferries on the English Channel.
Dr White, who worked formerly with the Marine Institute and was also a sales and marketing director for farmed fish with the Irish Salmon Producers' Group, has secured venture capital of £0.5 million from the Eircom Enterprise Fund and Shannon Development. This funding will enable the company to "enter new geographical territories", he says, as the market is not just limited to Ireland.
The company currently employs four people and hopes to expand to 10 by the end of next year. "We have overcome the technological obstacles, and the challenge now is to market the product," he says.
With storm force 10 gales becoming almost commonplace on the Atlantic seaboard, his company should be taking advantage of a following wind.
