Shipping Forecast - Region Names

Region Names

The sea areas covering the waters around the British Isles are as defined by the map shown here:

The areas were roughly as listed above by 1949. Later modifications include the introduction of Fisher in 1955, when Dogger was split in two. Heligoland was renamed German Bight a year later.

Around 1983, the Minches sea area was merged with Hebrides.

In 1984, the areas in the North Sea were coordinated with those of neighbouring countries, introducing North Utsire and South Utsire and reducing Viking in size.

Finisterre was renamed FitzRoy (in honour of the founder of the Met Office) in 2002, to avoid confusion with the (smaller) sea area of the same name used in the marine forecasts produced by the French and Spanish meteorological offices.

Some names still differ; for example, the Dutch KNMI names the area equivalent to Forties after the Fladen bank, while Météo-France calls the English Channel sea areas Dover, Wight, Portland, and Plymouth respectively Pas de Calais, Antifer, Casquets, and Ouessant.

In the forecast, areas are named in a roughly clockwise direction, strictly following the order above. However, a forecast for Trafalgar is found only in the 0048 forecast - other forecasts do, however, report when there are warnings of gales in Trafalgar.