getting weather and cell service in SE Alaska

[rpackard]

What can the experts suggest for a no cost means of getting wind predictions and wind displays in the Inside Passage between Seattle and Glacier Bay Alaska?

I find the noaa text reports (especially on VHF) are very lengthy. I prefer a graphical display. The free Predict Wind service will not work on cell phones, you need the internet and a laptop. Iridium Go service is too pricey.

Maybe the Windy app is the best option.

And what carrier seems to best cover western BC and SE Alaska? I would only need coverage for three months but need data to download weather. AT and T, Verizon, etc?

richard

[BillKny]

Richard,

Be aware that the NOAA text service provides real weather forecasts, while the only thing that Windy provides is the raw output from the computer models. They. are not the same thing. To dismiss the NOAA charts as too difficult to read through is to throw away the analysis of professional meteorologists

If you are intimidated by the length of the NOAA text forecasts start by trimming it down and throwing out everything that does not apply to the area of your current interest. That takes it from multiple pages to a few paragraphs.

Then sit with a photocopy of a wide area chart, and sketch in the information they present. It's a tedious exercise at first, but when you are sailing in remote and difficult waters, understanding weather is the most important thing you can do all day. It is worth the effort to understand.

[Dsanduril]

Haven't done the Canada bit since cell phones were for making phone calls.

In SE Alaska there are two providers - AT&T and GCI. In some places they share towers, in others one may be better than the other. You can roam with other providers that have access to these networks, but they are the only two that actually operate up here.

In the main channels you can usually get coverage with 10-20 miles being the biggest gaps. But as soon as you head up a side channel or into a nice cozy anchorage you can forget cell coverage. And frequently VHF coverage as well.

There are a couple of fishing fleet VHF "nets" (they are not nearly that formal) where someone may repeat weather forecasts for those who can't access them, ask around as you go. Weather is a big deal to pretty much everyone in SE, so nearly every little village or small town will have the weather report posted on some shop wall or community board.

Which leaves satellite and SSB if you really want to get out in the boonies and be able to receive weather. We use SSB and aside from a very few fjords we can usually get enough signal to grab a grib file or text weather report (we use WinLink for that).

SE AK Forecast Discsussion - far and away the most critical source.

Inside Waters Forecast

Outside Waters Forecast

PS - Windy is pretty useless in the channels, local conditions predominate. Usually the wind blows either up or down the channel, rarely across, check the NOAA text forecasts, they are usually much more reliable (but certainly only as reliable as any weather forecast) for the predicted direction in your channel(s) of interest.

[sv_pelagia]

For the British Columbia coast Telus has the best coverage. Rogers is definitely not as good for the BC coast (!). You'll have to investigate which USA carriers have agreements with Telus. Note, it is not clear to me whether roaming will incle 4G or 5G speeds (reading AT&T web seems to suggest 2G).

The ONLY way to "guarantee" coverage with better data is to actually get a Canadian SIM for Telus (or their subsidiary KOODO) - - I recommend a Koodo prepaid.

As you can see by the attached Telus coverage map, there are large gaps where NO cell coverage is available.
https://www.telus.com/en/bc/mobility...nktype=network

And the map really indicates "best" case - - not always where it suggests there is coverage.

Fortunately, along most of the BC coast (and certainly the usual "Inside Passage" route), Environment and Climate Change Canada VHF marine forecasts ARE easy to get (but you might want to have your cell phone recod function handy, as it is so easy to miss or mis-hear the forecast you want).

Otherwise satellite or SSB (HAM or marine band) services needed. We regularly use our HAM radio and pactor modem to download gribs and text forecasts.

Much described here:
https://sailing-pelagia.blogspot.com...itish.html?m=0

[bratzcpa]

In summer/fall of 2019, we did the trip (Catalina 320 sailboat) from Seattle up to Glacier Bay and back. 3 months.

We used the weather channel on the VHF and found it was very accurate and very helpful. In many places, you'll be able to pick up several forecasts (both Canadian and US), so it was good to compare the two pieces of information. Unless we were deep back in a fjord, we could always get one or two wx channels.

Once in SE AK, your regular cell phone will work good for other visual online web-based sources (weather.com, Windy.com, etc.). There were a surprisingly large amount of area that was covered by cell signals.

We don't have HAM, or SSB, or satellite. For this trip, never felt hampered or blind.

~markb

[Siberian Sea]

I’m from Wrangell Ak and as far as phone service is concerned AT&T is the main provider. Verizon will work but not as much coverage. Expect vast areas with no coverage at all given the islands are all mountainous and not long out of town the service is lost. However the USCG has great VHF radio weather service and most everyplace you can get the reports. Many anchorages are deeper with hard bottoms. DONT travel after dark unless you need because the high volume of logs in the water. Numerous hot springs both in BC and SE Alaska you can access with your vessel

[Kelkara]

If you want the text forecasts delivered in app format, you can try my MarineWX app from Google Play. It's simple, but I find it quite convenient ... of course once out of cell range you're left with listening to the radio or satellite downloads.

[Nord Sal]

AT&T has the best coverage in SE Alaska. Their coverage map is reasonably accurate. https://www.att.com/maps/wireless-coverage.html

This coverage map worked for me through BC pretty well (Telus)

VHF Wx is available but gets sketchy to non-existent in some more remote areas.

Be aware that the NOAA marine weather is available in plain text format for areas with poor cellular service. If you just use the regular website, you'll get a lot of extra graphics and features which can be too much to load in areas with poor service. The plain text versions will often get through to you when the regular versions are unreachable. Dsanduril's links above are the ones to use, not the full pages from the NOAA website.

[wrwakefield]

I am assuming by no cost you mean acquiring free NOAA Wx products... but of course there is a cost to having an internet connection to acquire them.

We cruise the Pacific NNE full time and rely on a combination of cell [AT&T] and sat phone [Iridium] to download Wx products of choice.

As Dsanduril mentioned, there are two major cell providers up here, and having run with both the past couple of years, I can say AT&T has the best coverage- and ironically even in some of the smaller very remote places...

The AT&T Unlimited Elite plan also works well in Canada. [We have friends currenly transiting north in BC on that AT&T plan, and it has worked for voice and data everywhere they can acquire a cell signal...]

To download Wx products [WeFax, text forecasts, forecaster's discussions, GRIBS, etc.] I use an email service for the bandwidth impaired: UUplus.

For GRIBs, I prefer LuckGrib [and bought their satellite download compression service along with their Wx routing capability.] This is one of the best Wx and Routing apps available today in my opinion.

If you want more details and links to relevant information about the choices we have made based upon years of cruising full time here, I maintain a couple of related pages on our blog [no ads; no begging...] that always get lots of hits this time of year:

• Cellular and WiFi Data [Updated Mar-2021]
• Satellite Communications [Updated Jan-2021]
• Computers, Devices and Applications [Updated Mar-2021]

In case any of this is helpful.

Bon voyage! Bill

[Marathon1150]

Two things: I use PredictWind on a cellphone via cell coverage all the time. But the cell coverage map shown in a previous post is overly optimistic. I would not rely on a cell phone for access to weather information in coastal BC.

VHF radio is pretty good most of the time, but an SSB/HF is much better. Or even better still, and what we now use almost exclusively is an IridiumGo. The cost, compared to everything else involving a boat, is reasonable.

[MJH]

Originally Posted by rpackard

What can the experts suggest for a no cost means of getting wind predictions and wind displays in the Inside Passage between Seattle and Glacier Bay Alaska?

I find the noaa text reports (especially on VHF) are very lengthy. I prefer a graphical display. The free Predict Wind service will not work on cell phones, you need the internet and a laptop. Iridium Go service is too pricey.

Maybe the Windy app is the best option.

And what carrier seems to best cover western BC and SE Alaska? I would only need coverage for three months but need data to download weather. AT and T, Verizon, etc? richard

During our 2019 trip to Ketchikan we used Environment Canada weather broadcasts crossing BC. For the first time we were able to get the WRITTEN TEXT regional broadcasts by cell phone via individual Google links (Strait of Georgia, Pacific South Coast, Johnstone Strait, Queen Charlotte Strait, Queen Charlotte Sound, Hecate Strait North Coast, Dixon Entrance East) and putting them on my cell phone Home page. These were much preferred over listening to the lengthy VHF forecasts and usually available around significant populations and First Nations locations.

If you are not intimately familiar with BC Marine Weather Reporting Stations and Buoys it helps to have a map (such as provided in the Waggoner Cruising Guide...Interpreting Northwest Weather) of the area you are concerned about. Otherwise, while you understand what they say, you will have no idea where it is they are talking about.

As for carrier, we use Verizon with unlimited data (gives you Canada coverage) and Hotspot for a little more as my wife handled real estate transactions during the trip.

In Alaska we just used NOAA.

In all my years traveling to the BC and SE Alaska interior during the summer I have never seen the need for more detailed weather forecasts. Offshore is a different story.

Good Luck.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

[skipper53]

Free Predi t Wind works on my cell phone. Maybe depends on where you are located.

[sv_pelagia]

As noted above, see this web page for marine weather info in British Columbia (skip down page for key info):

https://sailing-pelagia.blogsp...for...itish.html?m=0


For most of BC coast between Cape Caution and Prince Rupert (220nm as the crow flies, much greater in reality) , you will NOT get cell service.


When you DO get cell data, here is a great app for BC marine weather:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...hl=en_CA&gl=US