Lesson 1

The running order

The forecast always reads the 31 areas in the same order, starting off southern Norway and travelling clockwise round Britain, south as far as Portugal, then up the west to Iceland.

• It begins with Viking, North Utsire and South Utsire in the northern North Sea.
• It runs down the east coast (Forth, Tyne, Dogger, Humber) and along the Channel (Thames, Dover, Wight, Portland, Plymouth).
• It swings far south (Biscay, Trafalgar, FitzRoy, Sole), then climbs the west (Lundy, Fastnet, Irish Sea, Shannon, Rockall, Malin, Hebrides).
• It finishes in the far north: Bailey, Fair Isle, Faeroes and Southeast Iceland.
• Neighbouring areas sharing the same weather are read together, e.g. "Humber, Thames".