Marine weather in Canada: overview

Driven by complex interactions between the atmosphere, water and the surrounding land, the weather conditions on Canada’s oceans, lakes and rivers can be harsh and unstable.

Professional and recreational mariners alike rely on accurate marine weather forecasts to provide them with the notice they need to seek safe shelter or take other actions to protect their passengers, vessels and cargo from harm.

We address this need by forecasting marine weather 24 hours a day, all year round. Our marine forecasts cover Canada’s Pacific and Atlantic coasts, our Arctic waters, the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River, and many other major bodies of water.

We also issue marine alerts on the Canada.ca/weather website when conditions could pose a hazard to mariners or their operations. Our marine weather forecasts are also available via the Canadian Coast Guard's Continuous Marine Broadcast on your VHF radio. Current measurements of wind, waves, temperature, visibility and other parameters at hundreds of land and buoy stations across Canada are also available online.