Project: BSH weather type and gale catalogues - The weather type and gale catalogues of the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency of Germany (BSH) provide a classification of the pattern and intensity of the general atmospheric circulation over the North and Baltic Sea. The methodology uses daily sea level pressure information to derive the following parameters: Classified weather type, cyclonality index (cyclonic or anticyclonic), predominant wind direction, and gale index. The BSH weather type and gale catalogues concisely document daily synoptic conditions since 1948 to present. The time series are continuously extended to around two days behind present. The most recent information is publicly available at https://www.bsh.de/EN/DATA/Climate-and-Sea/Weather-and-Gales/weather-and-gales_node.html (currently under revision) or https://www.bsh.de/DE/DATEN/Klima-und-Meer/Wetterlagen-Stuerme/wetterlagen-und-stuerme_node.html. Summary: Much of what was summarized about the North Sea dataset (Loewe, 2022) carries over to the Baltic Sea setting. To make the current text a stand-alone resource that summary is reproduced here mutatis mutandis. Despite all equivalence, there is an important difference as to gale classification arising from relocating the analysis grid that is addressed in the following as well. Sea level pressure is a fundamental weather and climate element and the very basis of everyday weather maps. Daily sea level pressure distributions provide information on the influence of high and low pressure systems, air flow, weather activity, and, hence, synoptic conditions.
