It's That Time of Year Again! Weather Tools

[Marauder]

I learned early in my flying experience that weather decision making is an integral part of flying. I also learned in the days before the Internet and online tools, if I relied solely on the briefer's recommendation, I'd probably fly a lot less. As more and more of these online tools became available, supplementing the formal weather briefing with accurate, current and predictive capability became a reality. I thought I would share the tools I am using in addition to the DUATS briefing. I woul love to see what others have found.

First up. Skew-ts. If there is a tool that was made for aviation, it is the skew-t. The challenge with the skews is the amount of work required to understand what data it is presenting. It contains predictions of cloud layers, icing level and thunderstorm CAPE probabilities. One of the tools I have been using is SkewTLogPro. It was free when I signed up but I think I read that there will be a fee going forth. You can get the same information going to the website, but the app makes it much easier. http://rucsoundings.noaa.gov/

Next up. Quick and current radar. The radar that is presented in XM and FIS-B is a composite of several radar sweeps in a timeline. I found the app Storm provides access to real time radar to get an updated current radar view while on the ground.

One nice feature of Storm in addition to getting "live" radar is the ability to move the tilt to help look and verify echo tops.

Another couple of apps I find useful on the ground is Aviation Weather from NOAA. It has the charts in a quick and easy method to get them.

And finally I use AeroWeather.

This apps just gives you a quick access to the METARs. I like to load up airports along my route and have a quick access to the latest weather there. Helps me understand if things are acting as predicted.

So what are others using?

[bonal]

Lots of tech has made the go no go much easier flying out west makes it even more so. As a VFR guy I have the advantage of much simpler limits I use all the reporting on Fore Flight as well as Accuweather and Weatherunderground. Sometimes if my destination has coastal marine patterns I just call the FBO and ask them to look out the window for me. West coast weather seems a lot less variable 

[ArtVandelay]

Myradar app has aviation mode, gives Sigmets, Airmets, TFRs and will show your last flight if you were

IFR.

[TWinter]

MyRadar Pro has good radar coverage..One of my favorites.

[ArtVandelay]

I don't understand what you are saying about tilt,tops feature?

[Marauder]

I don't understand what you are saying about tilt,tops feature?

Real radar has a feature called tilt. It allows the operator to change the angle of the radar to get a fuller vertical view of the precipitation. Here is an overview: http://radarscope.tv/hrf_faq/tilts/

[ArtVandelay]

I don't understand what you are saying about tilt,tops feature?

Real radar has a feature called tilt. It allows the operator to change the angle of the radar to get a fuller vertical view of the precipitation. Here is an overview: http://radarscope.tv/hrf_faq/tilts/

Ah, I thought that it gave you tops (heights), that would be useful, tilting the radar for a more vertical view is TMI for me.

[jlunseth]

I use SkewTLogPro.  I used to have a bunch of apps on my iPad but once the weather all got collected on Foreflight I just use that.  The other thing I refer to during icing season is the icing reports on aviationweather.gov and sometimes the route tool for that.  Foreflight has icing but it is not as nice a tool as aviationweather.gov.  Sometimes I use the infrared graphs in aviationweather.gov to figure out tops.  

I still call for a weather briefing most times.  I find the briefings are better and more route accurate than they were say 5 years ago.  Lockheed gets better weather now as do we.  The main reason for calling Lockheed is to make sure I get TFRs, especially with election season approaching.

I have XM Weather on the panel.  I find that even with all the weather tools available, I often feel better just getting aloft, using the XM and the best of all of them, the Mk I eyeball and the v. 10.2 Judgment Tool.  Once outside icing season, getting to 12k and actually seeing what is there is the best.  Of course, you have to look first to make sure you don't launch into something.  That is when the  Mattress on the Floor regression tool comes in handy.

[Bob - S50]

A site I'm still playing with to see if it gives me accurate info is Ogimet:

http://www.ogimet.com/gramet_aero.phtml.en

Gives a pictorial view of your route showing the freezing level, winds, clouds, icing and turbulence.  Enter your route using airport codes separated by an underscore like this:

ksea_kolm_kkls_kpdx

It does not know every airport.  In general, if the airport has a TAF it will know it.  It also knows some that don't.  For example it knows KKLS above, but it doesn't know KCLS which is about 30 NM away.

[wishboneash]

Chris, on my Android phone I use - Skew-t, Aviation Weather and Raindar. I like your iOS versions and may put some of your recommendations on my iPad Mini and use the tethering feature to download data when I don't have wifi.

[midlifeflyer]

The issue I have with the Skew-T apps is actually related to the title of this topic - this time of year. As far as I have been able to tell, none of the Skew-T apps will plot the parcel line. That the one that visually shows the varying atmospheric stability - the magenta line in the image below. That's all well and good in the winter where we are primarily concerned with clouds and temperature, but for the spring and summer convection season, I don't want to "imagine" where that line is. I want to see the stability pattern visually.

[ArtVandelay]

The issue I have with the Skew-T apps is actually related to the title of this topic - this time of year. As far as I have been able to tell, none of the Skew-T apps will plot the parcel line. That the one that visually shows the varying atmospheric stability - the magenta line in the image below. That's all well and good in the winter where we are primarily concerned with clouds and temperature, but for the spring and summer convection season, I don't want to "imagine" where that line is. I want to see the stability pattern visually.

I would add a comment (review) to app in itunes, maybe developer will see it

[Yetti]

I understand the concept in Skew T... before I invest time to really know about them, they seam to have light coverage for lots of land in Texas.  Like 4 stations for all of Texas.   So are they good enough to predict when coverage seems spotty?

[ArtVandelay]

I use http://www.hailprotector.com/hail-forecast/ to decide whether to hangar my plane on trips, also check for tornados, etc

[Marauder]

I understand the concept in Skew T... before I invest time to really know about them, they seam to have light coverage for lots of land in Texas.  Like 4 stations for all of Texas.   So are they good enough to predict when coverage seems spotty?

You need to extrapolate based on the readings you have available. Scott D who now works for ForeFlight I believed did a seminar on them. There are also YouTube videos available on how to use them.

[Marauder]

Also, it is advisable to augment with lifting index data to get a more comprehensive picture of the probabilities.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Hector]

I would also highly recommend that you take the readings from skew-T between departure and destination and curve fit a polynomial equation to properly project cloud base/tops along your route if that's too much trouble just screw it and go!