Kankama said..
I don't get how a barometer can tell you an exact wind direction and speed.
OK...The barometer provides the fine tuning to published barometric charts, which are produced 6-hourly. A barometer can never be 'wrong'; we use it to effectively update the charts, which gives surprisingly accurate direction and reasonable windspeed.
And for the officionados of old school seamanship, there is always the Golden Globe Race - on now. All competitors carry an old barograph, which effectively creates a slice of a barometric chart; they must then deduce the rest. The only allowable external forecasts are from HF - not very accessible in the Southern Ocean.
Toph said..
I was under the impression that BoM relied heavily on NOAA models and that ceased to be available to them under the current US Administration.
The bureau uses multiple models. If I was restricted to just one model, I would use ECMWF. You can select your prefered model on e.g. Windy, if you wish.
My attention was recently drawn to the different predictions of models while becalmed in the middle of the English Channel.
