Those of us above a certain age who used to listen to the BBC Home Service, and who now tune in occasionally to Radio 4, might think that the shipping forecast has been with us, without change, since time began.
As it happens, the scheme currently in use was designed in principle in the 1920s, and now divides the zone of interest into 31 "sea areas" of varying sizes. Forecasts are provided for each in turn, in the familiar, rhythmic and almost comforting litany of Cromarty, Forth, Tyne, Dogger, Fisher, German Bight, and so on. The list moves in a clockwise sequence around the islands of Britain and Ireland, covering a roughly triangular region bounded by Iceland, Norway and the west coast of Portugal.
But the system is not entirely changeless. In fact there will be a significant development in early February next year when a new sea area will be introduced, and the boundaries of the areas catering for the English Channel will be altered.
Sea areas Sole and Plymouth will be realigned to allow a match to take place with the zones currently used by the French to forecast for what they call La Manche. Meanwhile, Meteo France, the French Meteorological Service, will tweak its own dividing lines a little. The end result will be that the sea areas known to British sailors as Dover, Wight, Portland and Plymouth will coincide exactly, and respectively, with the newly named French seas areas of Pas de Calais, Antifer, Casquets and Ouessant.
Those who like to listen to both French and English broadcasts will then be able to assess the two, comparing like with like.
There are also ambiguities at present off the coasts of Spain and Portugal.
The British shipping forecast currently provides three sea areas to the west of Continental Europe: Finisterre, Biscay and Trafalgar. Unfortunately the Spanish Weather Service uses, and will continue to use, an area which they call Finisterre, and which is quite different from the British one. Again, this is liable to cause confusion to those who like to listen to more than one shipping forecast.
To resolve this issue, the name Finisterre will disappear altogether from the British list from February 4th, 2002, and will be replaced by an entirely new sea area off the north-west coast of Spain. The newcomer will be called FitzRoy, unique among sea areas in being called after a person rather than a geographical feature. The eponym is Admiral Robert FitzRoy who, as Head of the British Navy's Meteorological Department, began the rigmarole by issuing the first Storm Warnings for shipping 140 years ago.