Just because it looks benign on XM and NEXRAD...

Clark1961

Clark1961

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Doesn't mean it won't try to bite you...

I was returning to FTG yesterday afternoon and there was a cloud mass moving over the Denver area. No discernible rain shafts but the bottom of the cloud mass was rather unsettled and "fuzzy".

I picked up flight following once I was over the mountains. The controller sounded like he was off his game with many self-corrections. There were frequent vectors to avoid weather to the departing airline traffic.

I cruised toward my destination with a leery outlook towards the weather. There were some rather curious dust clouds close to the DEN terminal which caught my eye and I thought "microburst." Shortly thereafter the controller commented he had aircraft going everywhere because of microbursts and they were flipping the approach.

That was enough for me. I skeedadled out to the east and then hooked back around to GXY. Checked the weather at GXY and it's all green. The helpful lineman at Greeley gave me the loaner for the night and I got to sleep in my own bed. Read about a microburst strong enough to down powerlines in Denver in the morning paper.

Interesting flight out of the mountains yesterday...
 
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You think maybe the old adage about "always leaving yourself an out" may actually have some truth?

Clark1961 said:
Doesn't mean it won't try to bite you.

I was returning to FTG yesterday afternoon and there was a cloud mass moving over the Denver area. No discernible rain shafts but the bottom of the cloud mass was rather unsettled and "fuzzy".

I picked up flight following once I was over the mountains. The controller sounded like he was off his game with many self-corrections. There were frequent vectors to avoid weather to the departing airline traffic.

I cruised toward my destination with a leery outlook I towards the weather. There were some rather curious dust clouds close to the DEN terminal which caught my eye and I thought "microburst." Shortly thereafter the controller commented he had aircraft going everywhere because of microbursts and they were flipping the approach.

That was enough for me. I skeedadled out to the east and then hooked back around to GXY. Checked the weather at GXY and it's all green. The helpful lineman and Greeley gave me the loaner for the night and I got to sleep in my own bed. Read about a microburst strong enough to down powerlines in Denver in the morning paper.

Interesting flight out of the mountains yesterday...
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And here I thought I was pushing things coming out of the mountains in the late afternoon! The real problem was out on the plains.

I probably pushed things too far on the inbound leg and will divert earlier next time. I really don't want a picture of my N# laying crumpled in a wheat field.
 
Clark1961 said:
And here I thought I was pushing things coming out of the mountains in the late afternoon! The real problem was out on the plains.

I probably pushed things too far on the inbound leg and will divert earlier next time. I really don't want a picture of my N# laying crumpled in a wheat field.
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Still...excellent decision-making on your part!
 
Yup - I was thinking of going to Walden for the flyin, but the wx for Sunday was a no-op for me (not IFR and fog was forecast). Got a bit of hail in the afternoon (5 nm north of APA) and lots of rain - no need to water the lawn for a few days!
 
scottd said:
Wish that I could say the same...I've only had 0.03" in the last 14 days and 0.6" in the last 21 days.
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I don't think we have had much rain either and I only live about 25 miles south of Murphey...
 
What's rain? I've heard of it but never seen it...
 
wsuffa said:
The polar opposite of dust? :goofy:
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Hmmm, rain, as I am told, is water falling from the sky. The water may then return to the sky.

Dust, well it seems to rise from the ground and nearly always returns to the ground (after I clean it from my ears and other cracks and crevices).

There are other differences. Dust seems to encourage beer drinking at the end of the day while this alleged substance called rain seems to require rum or other equally spirituous liquor. While these libations may not be direct opposites, they certainly are on opposite ends in terms of flavour and alcohol content.

Yes, it seems that dust is the opposite of this rumoured substance called rain.
 
wsuffa said:
Especially in West Texas....:eek:
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Not lately, they've been coming together each and every night the past two weeks. It was just high winds until two weeks ago. Got a ton of rain at my place yesterday evening ... right after the 40mph winds blasted through. Forecast looks like our August monsoon season with possible TS each and every evening for the next week here:sad:
 
murphey said:
Yup - I was thinking of going to Walden for the flyin, but the wx for Sunday was a no-op for me (not IFR and fog was forecast). Got a bit of hail in the afternoon (5 nm north of APA) and lots of rain - no need to water the lawn for a few days!
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Actually, we left Walden at 10:30 on Sunday and got back to CO12 at around 11:45 and things were still good. By 2:00 it would have been pretty unpleasant.

Colorado, is settling in to the normal summer pattern. Nice in the morning. Dangerous from 2:00 to 6:00 and then nice after that.
 
COFlyBoy said:
Colorado, is settling in to the normal summer pattern. Nice in the morning. Dangerous from 2:00 to 6:00 and then nice after that.
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I made it back to FTG from 9U4 on Monday about 1 pm. The ride was all I wanted to deal with, that is fer sure and fer certain. There for awhile I had 1,000+ fpm ascents followed by 500+ fpm descents. Glad it wasn't the other way around.

I'm passing on the opportunity for an out-n-back Thursday for a noon meeting in the field...I'll drive for that one (eight+ hours on the road).
 
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