De-ice - no airmet

[Fastglas]

I was on a commercial flight out of Dallas yesterday morning. We were waiting on a de-ice truck and ended up a half hour later the planned getting off the ground. It was cold(er) than normal, say about 30 degrees, warming to mid-40s later in the day, but the sky was clear and sunny. I was not sure if there was protocol that was being followed by the pilot but I didn't understand why the plane was being de-iced. I took a snapshot off of Foreflight with radar, airmets, and pireps turned on. As you can see, no icing airmets, no pireps, and no convective activity. What am I missing here?

 

[Gucci Pilot]

Was there snow and frost on the plane?

 

[Immelman]

Could have been some contaminants from the night before (they got some snow, right? I was out there yesterday myself). Also could be cold-soaked fuel that caused frost to form after landing.

 

[champ driver]

Must have been some amount of frost on the plane from being parked on the ramp over night. Ground de-icing is for takeoff only, not for afterwards and inflight cruising.

 

[Gucci Pilot]

Even ground anti-icing is just to prevent accumulation until the aircraft takes-off.

 

[Larry in TN]

You don't deice in preparation for encountering icing conditions in flight. You deice to remove ice, snow, or frost that is already on the airplane in preparation for takeoff.

 

[frfly172]

Probably a buildup of snow or frost.

 

[Fastglas]

That makes more sense.