National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

This is NOT a complete listing of NWS marine forecast products for this area. See the NWS Marine Weather Services homepage which contains information on the dissemination of NWS marine weather forecasts including frequency and broadcast schedule information as well as links to products and related information.

National Weather Service Coastal and Offshore forecast products listed on this webpage are subdivided by zone, each identified by a Universal Generic Code(UGC) e.g. ANZ050, and a Special Area Messaging Encoder (SAME) code, e.g. 073050. SAME codes are used to program SAME-capable NOAA Weather Radio receivers to receive alert messages for user-specified areas.

A graphic version of this page is available. The entire text of these forecasts may be found at NWS Marine Text Forecasts and Products Listing or the low-bandwidth-mobile friendly text products page which also serve as alternate sources of data.

These forecasts are also available via e-mail

Great Lakes Marine Text Forecasts by Zone

All Lakes Forecasts

Open Lake Zone Forecasts

Explanation of the MAFOR code

Lake Superior

(Zone Name (Zone number/SAME code)​

Lake Michigan

(Zone Name (Zone number/SAME code)​

Lake Huron

(Zone Name (Zone number/SAME code)​

Lake St. Clair

(Zone Name (Zone number/SAME code)​

Lake Erie

(Zone Name (Zone number/SAME code)​

Lake Ontario

(Zone Name (Zone number/SAME code)​

Nearshore Marine Zone Forecasts

NWS nearshore forecast areas - within 5 nautical miles of shore.

Great Lakes nearshore marine forecasts are issued throughout the boating season, typically beginning around April 1 and ending around December 31, dependent on ice conditions on the entrances to each individual lake. During periods of climatological extremes leading to erratic ice coverage patterns (shifting of ice edge, late/early freeze, etc.), and based on customer needs, nearshore forecasts may be issued throughout the winter to support the National Weather Service mission of protecting life and property on the waters of the Great Lakes.

Lake Superior, Bays and Rivers

(Zone Name (Zone number/SAME code)​

  Minnesota Shore Line

  Wisconsin Shore Line

(Zone Name (Zone number/SAME code)​

  Michigan Shore Line

(Zone Name (Zone number/SAME code)​

Lake Michigan and Bays

(Zone Name (Zone number/SAME code)​

  Michigan Shore Line

  Wisconsin Shore Line

(Zone Name (Zone number/SAME code)​

  Illinois Shore Line

(Zone Name (Zone number/SAME code)​

  Indiana Shore Line

(Zone Name (Zone number/SAME code)​

Lake Huron, Bays and Lakes

  Michigan Shore Line

(Zone Name (Zone number/SAME code)​

Lake St. Clair

(Zone Name (Zone number/SAME code)​

Lake Erie and Bays

(Zone Name (Zone number/SAME code)​

  Michigan Shore Line

  Ohio Shore Line

(Zone Name (Zone number/SAME code)​

  Pennsylvania Shore Line

(Zone Name (Zone number/SAME code)​

  New York Shore Line

(Zone Name (Zone number/SAME code)​

Lake Ontario and Rivers

(Zone Name (Zone number/SAME code)​

  New York Shore Line

1 Although SAME codes exist for offshore forecast zones and forecast synopses, they are not used operationally.

NOTICE - This page under continuous construction.  Please excuse our dust.  Several listed products may not be in existence.  Links not yet available for all products.  Linked data may not represent the latest forecast.  The Internet is not part of the National Weather Service's operational data stream and should never be relied upon as a means to obtain the latest forecast and warning data. Please read our disclaimer.

CAUTION - Remember to hit the "RELOAD" button on your web browser or you may be recalling data from memory rather than downloading the latest forecast.

For details on changes to NWS products, visit the NWS Notifications website, the NWS Data Management and NWS Telecommunication Operations Center (TOC) webpages.

For operational issues, contact the NWS Tech Control help desk at 301-713-0902 or email at toc.nwstg@noaa.gov. This is a 24hr/7day help desk. Please be specific as possible about the problem you are experiencing and the exact URL which is giving you difficulties, e.g. https://weather.gov/marine/....., (or page you are linking from if that URL is too long).