North Atlantic weather war

In some circumstances, visibility was necessary (photographic reconnaissance and bombing raids) and in others concealment (keeping ship movements secret or suppressing enemy air activity).

D-day planning was greatly affected by weather forecasting; it was delayed by one day in the expectation that a storm would blow out and sea conditions would be acceptable.

[2] By February 1941, five 327 ft (100 m) Coast Guard cutters were used in weather patrol, usually deployed for three weeks at a time, then sent back to port for ten days.

The Allies had a distinct advantage in the contest, controlling all of the major islands (Newfoundland, Greenland, Iceland, Great Britain) of the North Atlantic.

The Germans, with their small number of (impermanent) observation stations, had to rely on a certain amount of luck to detect a weather front before it reached Europe.

Spitsbergen was an important location: it enabled the Germans to monitor weather conditions on the Allied convoy route to northern Russia.

[6] The historical novel Turbulence by Giles Foden portrays the efforts of James Stagg, Lewis Fry Richardson (fictionalised as Wallace Ryman) and others to predict the weather ahead of the D-Day landings.

The play Pressure by David Haig is a fictional version of the 72-hours leading up to D-day revolving around the arguments between James Stagg, Irving P. Krick and Dwight Eisenhower.