Glancing out the window isn’t enough to decide safely whether today is the right time for a trip. Just as important as understanding wind forces and weather signs is knowing where to get reliable, up-to-date weather information before and during your trip. This article introduces the key official weather services for recreational skippers: the German national weather service’s marine weather report, NAVTEX, VHF marine radio, and apps, and shows how to correctly interpret warnings for your planning. The underlying meteorology, such as the Beaufort scale, is covered in our article on weather basics for the SBF See; this article focuses on the practical side: finding and using the right sources.

The DWD Marine Weather Report

The Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), Germany’s national weather service, is the official source for marine weather reports in Germany. For the North Sea and Baltic Sea it prepares updated marine weather reports several times a day, supplemented by a 5-day outlook for both areas published once daily. The report typically includes:

  • the general weather situation (pressure systems, fronts),
  • the forecast for individual sea and coastal areas, including wind direction and force in Beaufort, weather, and visibility,
  • and current warnings of strong wind, gales, or other hazardous conditions.

You can find the marine weather report free of charge at dwd.de under the marine weather section. If you’re regularly out on the water, you can also sign up for the DWD’s marine weather newsletter and have reports for selected sea areas, such as the German Bight, sent to you directly.

Reading Warning Levels Correctly

Warnings in the marine weather report are based on the Beaufort scale. Two thresholds are worth knowing so you can correctly assess a warning:

  • Strong-wind warning: from Beaufort force 6.
  • Gale warning: from Beaufort force 8.

A strong-wind warning doesn’t yet mean a gale, but it’s already a clear signal to critically reconsider your planned trip, especially on open water or in a boat not well suited to rough conditions. A gale warning is a clear signal to postpone or abandon the trip. Our article on the Beaufort scale explains in detail how each Beaufort level actually affects the water surface.

One thing that matters in practice: a warning always applies to a specific sea area and a specific time window. So don’t just read the warning level itself, but also which area and time period it covers, and whether your planned course actually passes through that area.

NAVTEX is an international system for the automatic distribution of navigational and meteorological warning messages by radio teleprinter. A NAVTEX receiver on board automatically prints or stores incoming messages, without you having to actively tune a frequency or listen in.

For the German area, the following applies:

  • 518 kHz: the international NAVTEX channel, messages in English.
  • 490 kHz: the national channel for German sea and coastal areas, messages in German, under station identifier L.

On 490 kHz, wind warnings, navigational warnings, and weather forecasts for the German areas are broadcast several times a day at fixed times, supplemented by ice reports in winter. Particularly urgent warnings are additionally distributed outside the scheduled broadcast times, so they reach you as quickly as possible. NAVTEX is most common on larger yachts and merchant ships, but it’s also used by ambitious recreational skippers on coastal passages who value an automatic, radio-based source of information independent of the mobile network.

VHF Marine Radio: Weather Broadcasts to Listen In On

VHF marine radio (voice radio) also regularly carries weather broadcasts. Alongside the official coast radio stations, there are private providers geared specifically toward recreational boaters, the best known on the German North Sea and Baltic coasts being DP07. Stations like this broadcast marine weather reports and gale warnings over VHF several times a day, receivable with an ordinary marine VHF radio on the relevant working channel for the area.

The advantage over internet apps: VHF marine radio works even where mobile coverage is weak or absent, for example out on open water or in more remote areas. If your boat carries a VHF marine radio, it’s worth knowing which channel in your cruising area carries the weather broadcasts, so you can tune in when needed. To operate your own VHF marine radio, though, you need a radio operator’s certificate – the SRC for coastal waters or the UBI for inland waters.

General Weather Warnings for Inland Waters

Not every trip happens at sea, plenty of recreational skippers are out on inland lakes and rivers. There, alongside the marine weather report, the DWD’s general official weather warning for all of Germany is also relevant. It uses a four-level system, colour-coded as follows:

  • Yellow: weather warning, with noticeable but generally still manageable effects.
  • Orange: significant weather with a distinctly higher hazard potential.
  • Red: severe weather warning, the forecast development is already dangerous.
  • Violet: warning of extreme severe weather with substantial risk to life and limb.

You can find these warnings on the DWD’s online warning map and in the DWD WarnWetter app. Many people also use the NINA warning app from Germany’s Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance, which pushes weather warnings as notifications, useful for times when you’re not actively checking your phone. The same basic rule applies for planning a trip on an inland lake or river as at sea: from Orange onward you should critically reconsider the trip, and at Red or Violet the boat belongs in a safe harbor rather than on the water.

Weather Apps as a Practical Addition

For a quick check on the go, or when preparing at home, weather apps are a practical addition. The DWD itself offers the WarnWetter app as an official app with forecasts and warnings for the German coastal areas. Beyond that, there are numerous other weather apps and websites with graphical wind and wave forecasts that are well suited to a quick overview.

It’s important to place these correctly: an app generally provides a model-based forecast, not an official warning with the standing of the DWD’s marine weather report. As the responsible skipper, you should therefore also check an official source before every trip and not rely on a single app alone, especially when the forecast is borderline or different sources disagree.

Using the Sources for Your Trip Planning

In practice, a combination of several sources works well:

  1. Days ahead: get a rough sense of the developing weather from the DWD’s 5-day outlook, and align your trip planning, including considerations around currents and tides, broadly with it.
  2. The evening before and on departure day: check the current marine weather report and any warnings for your area, supplemented by a weather app for a quick graphical overview.
  3. Underway: keep an eye on NAVTEX messages or VHF weather broadcasts, especially on longer passages or in unsettled weather, so you learn about changes early.
  4. When conditions start to deteriorate: take your own observations, such as a falling barometer or thickening cloud, seriously and cross-check them against the current warning situation, rather than relying solely on the last forecast you checked.

This routine matters especially when visibility might deteriorate. Our article on restricted visibility explains what to do in that case.

Reading a Warning Message Correctly

Even though the exact wording of marine weather reports varies from broadcast to broadcast, the structure usually follows a similar logic: first the general weather situation, then the forecast for the relevant sea area, and finally a separately highlighted warning, if one applies. When reading or listening, pay particular attention to three details:

  • Which area the warning applies to. A warning for the German Bight doesn’t necessarily affect you if you’re cruising the sheltered Wadden Sea or an inland waterway, and vice versa.
  • From when to when the warning applies. Some warnings cover only a short window in the afternoon, others apply for the whole day or longer.
  • Which wind force is actually named. The wording “wind 5 to 6, gusts 7” means something different from an outright gale warning with force 8 or higher, even though both should be taken seriously.

If you filter out these three points instead of reacting only to the headline “gale warning,” you can judge more realistically whether, and how strongly, the forecast conditions will actually affect you.

Why This Is More Than Dry Theory

Weather information isn’t an end in itself, it’s the basis for concrete decisions: should I even go out today? Should I choose a sheltered area instead of the open coast? Should I bring the return leg forward because a warning is expected in the afternoon? If you know where to find reliable information and how to interpret warning levels, you can make these decisions confidently and in good time, instead of being caught out by deteriorating weather once you’re already on the water.

How This Comes Up in the Exam

In the theory part of the SBF See exam, weather is tested as its own topic block, usually with questions on the Beaufort scale, warning levels, and basic weather signs. The concrete sources, such as NAVTEX or VHF weather broadcasts, are also important practical knowledge covered in the official ELWIS question catalog. With the Boatpass app, you can practice these questions specifically and get immediate feedback on where gaps remain.

Conclusion

The DWD’s marine weather report is the central official source for wind and gale warnings on the North Sea and Baltic Sea, supplemented by NAVTEX and VHF marine radio as radio-based channels that also work without mobile coverage. Weather apps are a useful addition for a quick overview, but they don’t replace the official warning. If you know the different sources and use them regularly, from rough early planning to ongoing checks underway, you’ll make better-informed decisions and be far better protected from nasty surprises on the water.