www.weather.com - Force 2 The Weather Channel site.  So-so, but improved from our contemptuous review of a few years ago.  Very commercial - if you learn from one part of the site that it's going to be blowing gale force, you can quickly click to order a 'Windjammer Auto Open' umbrella ("vented to resist inversion") from the Weather Channel Store.  There are site sections on every human activity which is even remotely related to weather.  So far it's the only site I know of with a Mosquito Activity Forecast, for example.  You have to dig deep on this site, in more ways than one ...

www.wunderground.com - Force 3 WeatherUnderground provides a basic five-day forecast, including wind velocity for three-hour intervals.  Geek Bonus: when you get to your local forecast page, click on the Astronomy link there (or here) for a really nifty current sky map that you can customize to show the position of stars, planets, constellation outlines, and more.  If you think Corona Borealis is a Mexican lager, you should use this interesting, convenient service to better understand the night sky.

weather.yahoo.com - Force 2   This site actually fell from Force 3 to Force 2 since our last review. Yahoo dropped the National Weather Service teletype text link, and has now just grafted The Weather Channel under the Yahoo navigation banner.  To answer your immediate question - YES!, that means you can check Local Mosquito Levels here, too. In fact, the link is on the main page. And tell me, why do the mainstream weather sites have SKI reports IN THE SUMMER, but no SAILING reports, EVER!?

http://www.weather.gov/ - Force 4   This is the real deal - the all-knowing, all-seeing, satellite-savvy National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service (NOAA's NWS).  We recommend clicking the Graphical Forecast tab to start with. Also, check out the Marine Forcasts page that forecasts the weather over and around most of the world's fresh water. The only drawback (inexplicably shared by all other Force 4 and 5 sites) - no mosquito forecasts.

http://www.intellicast.com/IcastPage/LoadPage.aspx?loc=usa&seg=Sail&prodgrp=Forecasts&product=GreatSailing&prodnav=d1_00&pid=none - Force 4  This site packs a lot of graphical forecasting, and our link is to a section dedicated to sailing (Geek Bonus!).  The Intellicast "Great Sailing" wind forecast lets you see where sailing is great (blue) or extra lousy (green) across this great land.  Shows the entire country as:  a satellite view; radar precipitation map; wind "isobars" (for the next day, too!), and more.  It is a bit easier to get to text forecasts by starting at the home page: http://www.intellicast.com.

http://asp1.sbs.ohio-state.edu/ - Force 5  The Ohio State University Weather Site. Outstanding text content for the truly weather-geeked.  This is a great site for "models" (you'll impress chicks if you use this word when talking about weather forecasting) - AVN MRF, NGM MOS, and others.  Also contains National Weather Service public forecasts, Great Lakes Wind Analysis, and links to radar and other graphical products.  Here's some info to get you started on the models:

AVN MRF - 7 day forecast of temp, precipitation, cloud cover, and wind velocity in 12 hour segments.  A great way to plan ahead for an upcoming weekend or regatta (deciding on 2 crew vs. 3, camp or motel, etc.).
NGM MOS - 3 day forecast in three hour segments. Predicts wind speed AND DIRECTION! Very useful for determining general direction and large shifts during a race or event. Provides actual data to show the effects of fronts, highs, etc.  The only problem is you need the secret weather geek decoder ring to make it useful, and we just won't . . .  oh, all right, here's the weather geek decoder ring secret (swear you won't tell!)  The time at the top of the chart is Zulu time.  This doesn't require a degree in Swahili, but rather an understanding of Greenwich Mean Time.  All you really need to know is that we are 4 hours behind Zulu time.  So hour 15 is actually 11:00 AM., hour 18 is 2:00 P.M., etc.
     These models may seem conservative on wind, since it is a three hour average and not minimum/peak wind speed (model will show "12 mph," rather than "10-15 mph").  Go to the Weather by State page to access models for cities around the country.

http://cirrus.sprl.umich.edu/wxnet/model/model.html - Force 5  The University of Michigan Weather Site.  Not quiiite as good as the OSU site - but if you live up that way, you might as well shop locally ...

http://weather.unisys.com/mos/meteogram/index.html - Force 5  Unisys Weather Service.  Our link is to their Meteogram page - containing fairly nice color graphic presentations of your old friend, the MOS model, but only for selected cities.  Click Unisys Weather, Contents, in the left corner of the Meteogram page to explore their other services.  Not an intuitive, or speedy, site to navigate, but lots of good information if you have the time to get used to it.
 

A common attribute of the Force 4 sites and above is that most normal human beings will have to spend some serious time figuring out where everything is, and how to read it.  Some sites offer the equivalent of help pages to get you up to speed, and they can be really useful once you figure them out.  Best of luck, and Blue Skies!

Most of the search windows on the above sites will work with zip codes, which are always shorter than typing in the city and state.  Here is a list of zip codes for Interlake regatta sites:

Buckeye Lake Yacht Club      43008
Grand Traverse Yacht Club    49684
Hoover Yacht Club            43086
Indian Lake Yacht Club       43348
Indianapolis Sailing Club    46256 
Jolly Roger Sailing Club     43611
Kiser Lake Sailing Club      43070
Leatherlips Yacht Club       43065 
Lorain Sailing Club          44052
Mohican Sailing Club         44843
Port Clinton Yacht Club      43452
Portage Yacht Club           48169
Portage Lakes Yacht Club     44319
Potomac River Sailing Assoc. 22314
Put-in-Bay Yacht Club        43456
Sandusky Sailing Club        44870
Southern Md. Sailing Assoc.  20688

Find a boss weather site?  Or have you stumbled across a 'Weather-Lite' site deserving of our hearty scorn and ridicule?  Send them all to the Webslave at webslave@interlakesailing.org.