Marine Forecasts: weather data right on your chart

Knowing what the weather's going to do is half the battle in planning any trip on the water, whether that means deciding if today's even a good day to head out, or figuring out how conditions might shift over the next couple of days. Marine Forecasts puts that information directly on your Aqua Map chart, so you're not switching between apps to piece it together.

With Marine Forecasts, you can view wind, waves, currents, gusts, salinity, and sea temperature overlaid on the map with a 40-hour prediction window, pull a detailed 7-day forecast for any point in the world, and check real-time conditions from more than 1.000 weather buoys.

Marine Forecasts requires an active Advanced Tools subscription.

The Marine Forecasts settings page

You'll find dedicated Marine Forecasts settings from the main Settings menu, where you can customize exactly how forecast data looks and behaves on your chart.

At the top of the page, a single switch turns the map overlay on or off.

Below that, you can choose which data to display, one option at a time:

Surface currents, speed and direction across all oceans and major seas, sourced from the RTOPS and RIOPS models, plus highly detailed coverage of the primary US estuaries, sourced from NOAA.
Wind (at 10m), speed and direction worldwide, using the HRRR model for the US and the GFS model everywhere else.
Wind gust, using the same HRRR/GFS split as wind.
Waves, height, direction, and period, using the NDFD model for the US and Wavewatch III for the rest of the world.
Sea surface salinity, sourced from RTOPS and RIOPS, with detailed US estuary coverage from NOAA.
Sea surface temperature, sourced the same way as salinity.

Choosing how data is displayed

Below the data type, you can pick how you want it shown, and here you're free to select more than one at once:

symbols, directional icons whose color and size reflect the key value, like wind speed or wave height;
colors, a colored overlay representing that same key value;
labels, the actual numbers shown as text, layered on top of the symbols if both are enabled.

You can also fine-tune the display itself: text and icon size, and icon density on the map. One thing worth knowing, pushing both of these to their maximum at the same time will make the map genuinely cluttered, so it's worth experimenting to find a balance that's still readable. Finally, you can choose whether or not to show the legend on the map.

Viewing Marine Forecasts on the map

You can enable the overlay from the settings page described above, or faster, just tap the Marine Forecasts icon , found just above the Settings button in the bottom-right of the map. Tapping it brings up the available data types to overlay, and once you pick one, the icon itself updates to reflect your current selection. To turn the overlay off again, tap the same icon and select the currently active option.

By default, the overlay shows real-time conditions, but you can also look ahead. Tap the forecast simulation button to step through the next 40 hours in 1-hour increments, using the slider or the forward and backward buttons to move through time. Keep in mind that this data downloads from the internet as you request it, so give it a moment to load, especially if you're jumping around a lot. To exit the simulation and return to real-time data, just tap the stop button .

One general note: all Marine Forecast data comes from the internet, so you'll need a stable connection to use any of it.

Getting a detailed forecast for any point

From the Map Information page, you'll see a row with a quick weather summary for whatever location you've selected. Tap it, and you'll get a full forecast page for that exact point (again, this pulls from the internet, so you'll need a connection).

That page is broken into three or four sections, depending on where you are.

NOAA Marine Text Forecasts (US only), NOAA's own text-based weather updates and navigational guidance for specific US areas.

Current weather, the main conditions for that location right now, plus sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset times at the bottom. The background even shifts, light blue during the day, dark blue at night.
Hourly forecasts, covering the next 48 hours, in 3-hour steps for the US and 1-hour steps everywhere else. Scroll horizontally to see further ahead.
Daily forecasts, a condensed 7-day outlook.

Weather buoys

There's a dedicated switch on the main Settings page to display weather buoys on the map, shown with their own distinct icon . These buoys report real-time conditions at their exact location, and tapping one brings up a quick pop-up, with a full info page available from there (again, requiring an internet connection).

Depending on the specific buoy, you might find wind speed and direction, wave height, direction, and period, pressure, visibility, air and water temperature, and sometimes a written summary of conditions in the surrounding area too.

Looking for a specific buoy? Head to the Search page, open the "Places & POI" tab, and filter for weather buoys to find exactly the one you need.

Want to see it in action?

For a full walkthrough of Marine Forecasts, check out our video tutorial.

Marine forecasts