Shipping Forecast in Rockall, Malin, Hebrides, Bailey, and Fair Isle"). This sometimes follows the opposite format (e.g., "There are warnings of gales in all areas except Biscay, Trafalgar and FitzRoy"). The "General Synopsis" follows, giving the position, pressure (in millibars) and track of pressure areas (e.g., "Low, Rockall, 987, deepening rapidly, expected Fair Isle 964 by 0700 tomorrow"). Each area's forecast is then read out. Several areas may be combined into a single forecast where the conditions are expected to be similar. Wind direction is given first, then strength (on the Beaufort scale), followed by precipitation, if any, and (usually) lastly visibility.
Forecast skill many locations. An example of a skill calculation which uses the error metric 'Mean Squared Error (MSE)' and the associated skill score is given in the table below. In this case, a perfect forecast results in a forecast skill metric of zero, and skill score value of 1.0. A forecast with equal skill to the reference forecast would have a skill score of 0.0, and a forecast which is less skillful than the reference forecast would have unbounded negative skill score values. A broad range of forecast metrics can be found in published and online resources. A good starting point