Portland in early November

[NoHeat]

What kind of icing conditions should I expect for a flight into Portland OR the first week of November? Is it a daily problem?

I've never flown to the Pacific Northwest. I'm IFR rated and equipped, but non-FIKI. I'm thinking of KHIO as the airport; it's just a bit west of Portland, but I could land elsewhere if that would reduce the chance of freezing fog or whatever. The timing is an arrival in the late morning from central CA, and an early afternoon departure a few days later, toward Boise.

 

[bobmrg]

Impossible to predict. I flew in the PNW for 20 years in non-FIKI airplanes and lived to tell the tale. Go to www.1800wxbrief.com and click on the weather tab. There are other good sources on the web as well....Google is your friend. I would always try to learn the tops before taking off...my goal was to punch through the clouds and fly on top.....any rime I accreted during the climb would sublimate off when I got above the clouds; on arrival, I tried to stay high as long as possible (ATC is usually cooperative, especially Seattle Center) and descend through clouds as rapidly as I could. If the forecast was for clouds up to, say, 15000 with the freezing level at 6000 or so I would cancel the trip. Hand flying for over 30 minutes uses up too many brain cells if you need to shoot an approach at the destination. I flew round trips between Seattle and Oakland during the wee small hours seven days a week and never cancelled a trip.

Bob

 

[Pilawt]

PNW clouds, especially west of the Cascades, can be notorious ice-makers; other times they're completely benign. Just watch the forecasts and PIREPS closely.

There are some strategies to help avoid IMC altogether. Often it's cloudy and wet west of the Cascades but severe clear east of them. If so, and ceiling is high enough, the Columbia Gorge is a good VFR route through the mountains. (You can see the sudden shift in the climate zones from arid to wet as you go westbound about halfway between The Dalles and Hood River -- even Lewis & Clark commented on it in their journals.)

Or, since many weather systems approach Portland from the northwest, maybe the southern part of the long, flat Willamette Valley might be clear, such that you could head toward Eugene or Salem VFR, then follow I-5 north to Portland under the overcast.

From any other direction there is rough terrain, with MEAs often above the freezing levels.