aviation weather decisionmaking

[classicrock]

as a VFR student pilot (getting close to checkride), I have observed that I may be more conscientious than some when it comes to monitoring weather(previous threads on this website have indicated that some pilots barely even took the time to do so and)

that said, one aviation weather tool that has been mentioned on this website before is the skew T log, which I learned of about 6 months ago.its taken me awhile to learn how to Interpret it, especially the numbers in the upper right corner(Ki Index, Lifting Index, etc). thanks to viewing lots of videos online by Scott Daenstaedt and some slides prepared by Delia Colvin, I have gotten very close knowing which numbers and how the dewpoint/temp spread have to look in order to make the go/no go decision

essentially if the Ki Index is over 26(yellow flag) and definitely over 30 and the dewpoint/spread(red/blues lines)either makes contact in 2 places below 800mb lines or are very close to each other in a 1 hour time period, I will consider a delay. if it is above 26 and the spread stays close,or makes contact for 3 one hour time periods in a row. I cancel.

I have attached pics. these are from today. first 3 are the skew t logs. last one is pic of weather taken on Foreflight in airspace near where I fly(KDWH-Tomball Tx).

I want to know how this matches with what other pilots(of those who use skew t logs)reference points on the logs they use

comments?

 

[GeorgeC]

Are the slides from Delia Colvin posted somewhere?

 

[MAKG1]

Skew T's are definitely a useful tool. I use them largely to look for strong turbulence, and for ice. But for VFR flight over not-too-high terrain, it's a lot simpler. Local winds along the route of flight, and cloud cover. That's good enough if it's an obviously VFR day. If it's marginal, then other tools come out -- and ADDS has most of the same things you're looking at on larger scale maps -- but I generally need them as a function of position, rather than altitude.

The big exception is the climb-out and descent. For that, Skew-T's tell me what to expect.

 

[BigBadLou]

For a VFR pilot, Skew-T charts are a little overkill, IMHO. But it does not hurt to learn ahead for sure.
As a VFR pilot, I used to go by temp/dewpoint spread and forecasts to make the go/nogo decision.
However, as MAKG pointed out, flying over flat TX should be no problem with basic look out the window and basic forecast since it is usually hot and sunny out here, even in the winter.

 

[James331]

Skew T

Ice predictions for IFR

Skydive ops (helped with picking the first spot and for temps)


That's about the extent I use them for

 

[Brad Z]

I don't use the skew-T Log-P atmospheric stability indicators as much as I generally get a good idea from the forecasts where convective activitity may take place. Due to the temporary nature of convective activity, I'm generally not going to cancel for convective activity until I look at a real-time picture of weather. You have to look at the data in context. I'll mention that I find the forecast scientific discussions for aviation forecasts helpful in getting a big picture, and then zooming in from there. For me, skew-Ts along with METARs represent the tightest zoom of weather information.

My favorite items from the skew-T weather products are temperatures aloft, temp/dewpoint spreads, and winds aloft. I can tell where the cloud layers will likely be, and how high I have to climb (and how cold it will be in the climb) to get on top (or at least between a cloud layer).

I'm still waiting for these to be added to Foreflight. With Scott D. on board, and these being his specialty, I have to think it will be in the works at some point.

 

[George Mohr]

Skew-T Log-P are used extensively by glider pilots to predict convective lift conditions. I've never used them for power flight, but more info is more gooder!

 

[classicrock]

For a VFR pilot, Skew-T charts are a little overkill, IMHO. But it does not hurt to learn ahead for sure.
As a VFR pilot, I used to go by temp/dewpoint spread and forecasts to make the go/nogo decision.
However, as MAKG pointed out, flying over flat TX should be no problem with basic look out the window and basic forecast since it is usually hot and sunny out here, even in the winter.

If you are looking out the window of your plane on the ground, I wouldn't trust that. if one's destination is over 30 miles away and there is convective actinity over 20miles away, you wouldn't see it. even after takeoff, at 1500 ft, you might see something but no details. maybe I am more conservative about this yet I prefer more weather research. that doesn't always include skew T, but I am checking Satellite Image on aviation weather.gov.