Overview of the Synoptic Report
Synoptic observations provide additional detail to complement the data entered previously in your weather observations. Synoptic observations are transmitted at the standard synoptic hours (0000Z, 0600Z, 1200Z, and 1800Z). If instructed or if significant or unusual weather is occurring, synoptic observations can also be reported at 0300Z, 0900Z, 1500Z, and 2100Z.
The following parameters are among the observations to report on your Synoptic Data form:
- amount of low cloud type (CL), in oktas
- amount of mid cloud type (CM), in oktas
- amount of high cloud type (CH), in oktas
Note that the sum of the sky cover reported from the individual cloud types should equal the total sky cover value you reported in Column 17.
Synoptic observations need to be reported in the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) FM-13 (SHIP) code. Section III, Chapters 2-4 of COMNAVMETOCCOMINST 3144.1E provides the tables for encoding the synoptic observations. These tables are also likely available at your workspace area or in a flip book.
Several groups need to be reported in three different sections: Section 0, Section 1, and Section 2.
The first group to encode is Section 0, which contains groups for the ship’s call sign, date and time of the observation, and ship’s position at the time of the observation. Weather parameters are reported in Sections 1 and 2, detailed in the next pages.