Fickle spring winds

[N659HB]

Anyone else fed up with them? I mean really. The wind shifted from a quartering headwind when I was taxiing today to a quartering tailwind at takeoff. Maybe over five minutes. The take off wasn't too sporty, mind you, but please.

 

[Sac Arrow]

I could care less about winds when I'm flying, to the extent they aren't hurricane force. Just makes things more fun.

On the bike though, yeah, I hear you.

 

[Mistake Not...]

It's hard to be annoyed at the wind when it's thunderstorm after thunderstorm.... spring weather in the south.

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

When the winds stop here in April, it gets hot. Very hot. So I don't mind it so much.
(also, if we don't get spring wind, there is often no summer rains - a necessity here for ag, water table, fire resistance etc)
The winds had me less thrilled when I flew lighter aircraft, right now not so much a problem.

 

[OkieFlyer]

I hear ya. Happens a lot in the spring around here. I'm less concerned with the variable winds than with the pop-up thunderstorms that contain super cells, mesocyclones, hook echoes, and other smart sounding meteorology terms that appear out of nowhere this time of year.

 

[MAKG1]

I could care less about winds when I'm flying, to the extent they aren't hurricane force. Just makes things more fun.

On the bike though, yeah, I hear you.

They really aren't that bad locally. But damn, tell that to AFSS. I ferried a CAP plane to SAC today, and filing a flight plan got me an avalanche of text messages about AIRMET TANGO and ZULU. Apparently, there were strong winds, moderate turbulence, and icing. In nice VFR weather with a tiny amount of fair weather cumulus, and less than 15 knots down the runway (34 at SAC, 31 at PAO).

It really wasn't that bad. WTF?

 

[Sac Arrow]

They really aren't that bad locally. But damn, tell that to AFSS. I ferried a CAP plane to SAC today, and filing a flight plan got me an avalanche of text messages about AIRMET TANGO and ZULU. Apparently, there were strong winds, moderate turbulence, and icing. In nice VFR weather with a tiny amount of fair weather cumulus, and less than 15 knots down the runway (34 at SAC, 31 at PAO).

It really wasn't that bad. WTF?

Runway 34 at SAC? They almost never use it. I actually thought they closed it at one time.

 

[MAKG1]

Runway 34 at SAC? They almost never use it. I actually thought they closed it at one time.

'Scuse me. It was 30. Still pretty weird. Not the usual 20.

34 is NOTAMed closed and has a nice flashing red X on it.

I've used 34 before, and it's really not very convenient. LONG taxi and no run-up area.

 

[Zeldman]

The wind has not really started here.....yet. When they do, nothing can be done except to keep flying. During the spring wind, we consider 30 sustained to be calm day.....

 

[SoonerAviator]

Love this time of year, actually. The temps are reasonable, the winds are generally breezy and only get out of hand with t-storms popping up with frontal boundaries pushing through. Sit out on the porch every evening and enjoy it before May comes along and it gets humid and miserable, with much more aggressive t-storm/tornado activity.