Coast and Sea
Inshore waters and strong winds
General situation
The United Kingdom will lie in a mainly east to southeasterly airflow as an area of low pressure moves slowly northwards towards southern areas. This will bring occasional rain or thundery showers to southern waters, moving slowly northwards over the next couple of days.
Issued at: .
For coastal areas up to 12 miles offshore for the period 18:00 (UTC) on Tue 25 Aug 2026 to 18:00 (UTC) on Wed 26 Aug 2026
Inshore waters and strong winds map
Cape Wrath to Rattray Head including Orkney (1)
24 hour forecast:
- Wind
- East or southeast 3 to 5.
- Sea state
- Slight, occasionally moderate at first to the west and north of Orkney and smooth elsewhere.
- Weather
- Mainly fair.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally moderate.
Outlook for the following 24 hours:
- Wind
- East or southeast, backing northeast for a time later in Moray Firth, 3 to 5.
- Sea state
- Slight, occasionally moderate in east.
- Weather
- Fair then showers.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally poor.
Rattray Head to Berwick upon Tweed (2)
24 hour forecast:
- Wind
- East or southeast, backing northeast for a time, 3 or 4, occasionally 5 in Firth of Forth.
- Sea state
- Slight, occasionally smooth at first in north, becoming moderate at times later.
- Weather
- Mainly fair.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally moderate.
Outlook for the following 24 hours:
- Wind
- East or northeast 2 to 4.
- Sea state
- Slight or moderate.
- Weather
- Fair then showers, perhaps thundery.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally poor.
Berwick upon Tweed to Whitby (3)
24 hour forecast:
- Wind
- East 3 or 4, veering southeast 3 to 5 later.
- Sea state
- Slight or moderate.
- Weather
- Mainly fair.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally moderate.
Outlook for the following 24 hours:
- Wind
- Southeast 3 or 4, becoming variable 3 or less, occasionally 4 later.
- Sea state
- Slight, occasionally moderate at first.
- Weather
- Showers, thundery rain later.
- Visibility
- Moderate or good, occasionally poor later.
Whitby to Gibraltar Point (4)
24 hour forecast:
- Wind
- East 3 to 5.
- Sea state
- Slight or moderate.
- Weather
- Showers later.
- Visibility
- Good.
Outlook for the following 24 hours:
- Wind
- East 3 or 4, becoming variable 2 to 4.
- Sea state
- Slight, occasionally moderate at first in north.
- Weather
- Showers, thundery at times.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally poor.
Gibraltar Point to North Foreland (5)
24 hour forecast:
- Wind
- Northeasterly veering easterly or southeasterly, 3 to 5.
- Sea state
- Slight, occasionally moderate until later.
- Weather
- Fair then thundery rain or showers.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally poor.
Outlook for the following 24 hours:
- Wind
- Easterly or southeasterly, veering southerly later, 3 to 5, occasionally 2 at first.
- Sea state
- Slight.
- Weather
- Thundery rain or showers.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally poor.
North Foreland to Selsey Bill (6)
24 hour forecast:
- Wind
- Easterly or northeasterly 4 or 5, becoming variable 3 or less, occasionally 4 in east.
- Sea state
- Smooth or slight.
- Weather
- Thundery rain or showers for a time.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally poor.
Outlook for the following 24 hours:
- Wind
- Variable 3 or less, becoming easterly or southeasterly, then veering southwesterly later, 3 to 5.
- Sea state
- Smooth or slight.
- Weather
- Thundery rain for a time.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally poor.
Selsey Bill to Lyme Regis (7)
24 hour forecast:
- Wind
- East or southeast 3 to 5, becoming variable 3 or less, then east 2 to 4 later.
- Sea state
- Smooth or slight.
- Weather
- Showers, perhaps thundery, becoming mainly fair later.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally poor.
Outlook for the following 24 hours:
- Wind
- East or southeast 2 to 4, backing east or northeast, then veering southwest later, 3 to 5.
- Sea state
- Smooth or slight, occasionally moderate later.
- Weather
- Thundery rain for a time.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally poor.
Lyme Regis to Lands End including the Isles of Scilly (8)
24 hour forecast:
- Wind
- Southerly or southeasterly, backing easterly later, 3 or 4, decreasing 2 at times in east.
- Sea state
- Slight, occasionally smooth in far east and moderate at first in west.
- Weather
- Showers, perhaps thundery, becoming mainly fair later.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally poor.
Outlook for the following 24 hours:
- Wind
- Easterly becoming cyclonic, then southwesterly later, 3 to 5.
- Sea state
- Slight, occasionally smooth at first in far east, becoming slight or moderate.
- Weather
- Fair then thundery rain or showers.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally poor.
Lands End to St Davids Head including the Bristol Channel (9)
24 hour forecast:
- Wind
- South or southeast 3 or 4, occasionally 5 at first, becoming variable 2 to 4 in Bristol Channel and later elsewhere.
- Sea state
- Slight, occasionally smooth in east and moderate at first near Lands End.
- Weather
- Thundery rain or showers, becoming mainly fair later.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally poor.
Outlook for the following 24 hours:
- Wind
- Variable 2 to 4, becoming cyclonic, then west or southwest later, 3 to 5.
- Sea state
- Slight, occasionally smooth in east, becoming slight or moderate in west.
- Weather
- Fair then thundery rain or showers.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally poor.
St Davids Head to Great Orme Head, including St Georges Channel (10)
Strong winds are forecast
24 hour forecast:
- Wind
- Cyclonic becoming southeasterly, 3 to 5, occasionally 2 in south and 6 at first in far north, becoming variable 2 to 4 later.
- Sea state
- Smooth or slight, occasionally moderate at first north of Anglesey.
- Weather
- Showers, becoming thundery at times.
- Visibility
- Moderate or good, occasionally poor later.
Outlook for the following 24 hours:
- Wind
- Variable 2 to 4, becoming easterly or northeasterly, then cyclonic later, 3 to 5.
- Sea state
- Smooth or slight, occasionally moderate later near St Davids Head.
- Weather
- Thundery rain or showers.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally poor.
Great Orme Head to the Mull of Galloway (11)
Strong winds are forecast
24 hour forecast:
- Wind
- Easterly or northeasterly 4 to 6, decreasing 2 to 4 later, then becoming variable for a time later in east.
- Sea state
- Smooth or slight, occasionally moderate at first in south.
- Weather
- Fair then showers, perhaps thundery later.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally moderate later.
Outlook for the following 24 hours:
- Wind
- Easterly or northeasterly 3 to 5, becoming variable 2 to 4 later.
- Sea state
- Smooth or slight.
- Weather
- Occasional rain or showers, perhaps thundery.
- Visibility
- Moderate or good, occasionally poor later.
Isle of Man (12)
Strong winds are forecast
24 hour forecast:
- Wind
- East 4 or 5, increasing 5 or 6, decreasing 3 or 4 later.
- Sea state
- Slight, becoming slight or moderate for a time.
- Weather
- Fair at first then occasional rain.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally moderate.
Outlook for the following 24 hours:
- Wind
- East 3 or 4, backing northeast 3 or less later.
- Sea state
- Mainly slight.
- Weather
- Occasional rain at first, showers later.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally moderate.
Lough Foyle to Carlingford Lough (13)
Strong winds are forecast
24 hour forecast:
- Wind
- East or northeast 3 or 4, increasing 4 to 6, veering east or southeast 2 to 4 later.
- Sea state
- Smooth or slight, occasionally moderate until later in south.
- Weather
- Occasional rain or showers.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally poor.
Outlook for the following 24 hours:
- Wind
- East or northeast, backing north or northeast later, 2 to 4.
- Sea state
- Smooth or slight.
- Weather
- Occasional rain or showers, perhaps thundery.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally poor.
Mull of Galloway to Mull of Kintyre including the Firth of Clyde and North Channel (14)
Strong winds are forecast
24 hour forecast:
- Wind
- Easterly or northeasterly 4 to 6, becoming variable 2 to 4 later.
- Sea state
- Smooth or slight, occasionally moderate near the Mull of Galloway.
- Weather
- Fair then occasional rain or showers.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally poor later.
Outlook for the following 24 hours:
- Wind
- Variable becoming easterly or northeasterly, then backing northerly or northwesterly later, 3 or 4, occasionally 2 at first.
- Sea state
- Smooth or slight.
- Weather
- Occasional rain or showers, perhaps thundery.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally poor.
Mull of Kintyre to Ardnamurchan Point (15)
Strong winds are forecast
24 hour forecast:
- Wind
- Easterly 3 to 5, occasionally 6 in south, becoming variable 2 to 4 later.
- Sea state
- Slight or moderate in west, smooth or slight in east.
- Weather
- Fair then occasional rain.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally moderate later.
Outlook for the following 24 hours:
- Wind
- Variable 2 to 4, becoming easterly 3 to 5, backing northerly 3 or 4 later.
- Sea state
- Smooth or slight, occasionally moderate in far northwest.
- Weather
- Occasional rain then showers.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally moderate.
The Minch (16)
24 hour forecast:
- Wind
- Variable becoming mainly east or southeast, 2 to 4.
- Sea state
- Smooth or slight.
- Weather
- Showers later.
- Visibility
- Good.
Outlook for the following 24 hours:
- Wind
- East or northeast becoming variable, 2 to 4.
- Sea state
- Smooth or slight.
- Weather
- Occasional rain.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally moderate.
Ardnamurchan Point to Cape Wrath (17)
24 hour forecast:
- Wind
- Variable becoming easterly or southeasterly, then backing northeasterly later, 2 to 4, occasionally 5 in far south and in far north.
- Sea state
- Slight or moderate, but smooth or slight near Sutherland.
- Weather
- Showers later.
- Visibility
- Good.
Outlook for the following 24 hours:
- Wind
- Easterly or northeasterly becoming variable, 2 to 4, occasionally 5 at first in far north.
- Sea state
- Smooth or slight near Sutherland and between barra and canna, otherwise slight occasionally moderate.
- Weather
- Occasional rain.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally moderate.
Shetland Isles (18)
24 hour forecast:
- Wind
- East or southeast 2 to 4.
- Sea state
- Moderate at first in west and north, otherwise slight, occasionally smooth in east.
- Weather
- Fair.
- Visibility
- Moderate or good.
For Coastal areas up to 60 nautical miles from Lerwick, Shetland (18)
Valid Tuesday 25 Aug 2026 at 1800 UTC until Wednesday 26 Aug 2026 at 0600 UTC
General situation
A large area of high pressure will be centred over Scandinavia on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Forecast
- Wind
- East or southeast 2 to 4.
- Sea state
- Slight or moderate.
- Weather
- Fair.
- Visibility
- Good.
Outlook for 12 Hours from 0600 UTC on Wednesday 26 Aug until 1800 UTC on Wednesday 26 Aug
- Wind
- Easterly or southeasterly 2 to 4, occasionally 5 later.
- Sea state
- Smooth or slight, occasionally moderate at first in west.
- Weather
- Fair.
- Visibility
- Good.
Channel Islands (19)
24 hour forecast:
- Wind
- Variable 2 to 3, locally east to northeast 4 in the north of the area, generally becoming southwest 3 by midnight, backing southeast to east 3 to 4 by mid-morning, locally 5 later.
- Sea state
- Smooth or slight.
- Weather
- Isolated showers, risk thundery, until midnight thundery showers developing by mid-afternoon.
- Visibility
- Good, locally moderate to poor.
Outlook for the following 24 hours:
- Wind
- Easterly 3 to 4, locally 5, veering southwest 4 to 5 by dawn Thursday, decreasing 3 to 4 after midday.
- Sea state
- Smooth or slight with a low swell later.
- Weather
- Thundery showers at first and again later.
- Visibility
- Good, occasionally moderate to poor.
Inshore waters forecast information
Forecasts for UK inshore waters are issued four times a day and cover a period of 24 hours from 0000, 0600, 1200 and 1800 UTC.
The coastal waters around the British Isles are divided into 19 areas which extend up to 12 nautical miles offshore.
The forecast contains details of wind direction and force, sea state, weather and visibility.
Strong coastal winds (force 6 or more) are displayed for the first 24 hours of the inshore waters forecast.
Marine forecasts disclaimer
In the UK, the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) is responsible for the provision of Maritime Safety Information (MSI) to ships at sea, which includes the broadcast of warnings and forecasts. The Met Office initiates warnings and prepares routine forecasts for dissemination on behalf of the MCA.
Caution: The internet is not part of the Maritime Safety Information system and should never be relied upon as the only means to obtain the latest forecast and warning information. Access to the service may be interrupted or delayed from time to time, updates may also be delayed.
Please refer to GMDSS services, INMARSAT SafetyNET or international NAVTEX for the latest information. When using these web pages, always check that the page on your screen is not from your cache. Use the Refresh or Reload button if in any doubt.