Shipping Forecast excluding the header line, has a limit of 350 words—except for the 0048 broadcast, where it is increased to 380 to accommodate Trafalgar's inclusion—and has a very strict format. It begins with "And now the Shipping Forecast, issued by the Met Office on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency at xxxx today." This format is followed quite strictly, although some continuity announcers read out the actual date of issue as opposed to the word "today". This is followed by gale warnings (winds of force 8 or more on the Beaufort scale), if any (e.g., "There are warnings of gales
Forecast Systems Laboratory Forecast Systems Laboratory The Forecast Systems Laboratory (FSL) was a meteorological research and development laboratory in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR). In October 2005, it was merged with five other NOAA labs to form the Earth System Research Laboratory. FSL conducted applied meteorological research and development to improve and create short-term warning and weather forecast systems, models, and observing technology. Supercomputing and other leading-edge technology are used in these applications. FSL then transferred these new scientific and technological advances to its clients which include NOAA's National Weather Service, the commercial and general