Decoding the Twittering Shipping Forecast

The Shipping Forecast uses a standardised syntax which is meant to be read in a specific order. That makes it quite difficult to Twitter in 140 characters, because it’s fairly verbose - but it does mean that’s relatively easy to get to grips with the abbreviations I’ve used.

Here’s an example Tweet:

SEIslnd Cyclnc gl 8 2 strm 10, dec 5 2 7. V.ruff r hi. Snow. Mod r pr

And here’s how it decodes:

South-East Iceland. Cyclonic gale 8 to storm 10, decreasing 5 to 7. Very rough or high. Snow. Moderate or poor.

That doesn’t mean much if you’re not familiar with the Shipping Forecast itself, but the Met Office provide a handy guide to the terminology.

So here’s a list of the abbreviations I’ve used:

Vikg - Viking
4ties - Forties
Cmrty - Cromarty
NUtsr - North Utsire
SUtsr - South Utsire
Tyn - Tyne
Dggr - Dogger
Fshr - Fisher
GerBite - German Bight
Hmbr - Humber
Thms - Thames
Dvr - Dover
Wite - Wight
Ptlnd - Portland
Plmth - Plymouth
Bscy - Biscay
Ftzry - FitzRoy
Tflgr - Trafalgar
Sole - Sole
Lndy - Lundy
Fstnt - Fastnet
RshC - Irish Sea
Shnn - Shannon
Rckll - Rockall
Mln - Malin
Hbdes - Hebrides
BAly - Bailey
FrIsle - Fair Isle
Froes - Faeroes
SEIslnd - South-east Iceland

Directions:

Northerly - Nly

Southerly - Sly

Easterly - Ely

westerly - Wly

Adjectives:

Occasionally - Occ
Increasing - Inc
Decreasing - Dec
Moderate - Mod
Good - Gd
Slowly - Slwly
Quickly - Qkly
Rising - Rsng
Falling - Flg
Imminent - Imn
Veering - vrng
Backing - Bckg

And some weather:

Squally - Sqly
Rain - Rn
Snow - Snw
Gale - Gl
Wintry - Wntry

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