Weather Experts, need your advice, first trip...

eMKay

eMKay

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Feb 2, 2011
Messages
403
Location
Buffalo, NY
Display Name
Display name:
eMKay
I would like to fly from BQR to 39N (buffalo to Princeton) leaving Friday morning, returning Saturday evening. Right now the weather looks good but this being my first long cross country I don't want to screw this up. So I would like some advice on up to departure time, obviously it's a couple days early to make the go-no go decision.
 
I use accuweather to get an idea about any wx more than 3 days out, but it's purely entertainment. I don't flight plan more than 3 days out.

I start looking at ADDS surface prog charts, then confirm with a look at the High Progs (helps confirm direction of lows and highs) two days out.

Big Hs are usually good, and there is one heading our way.
 
The NWS forecaster discussions can be helpful. They will typically also include some clues about how confident the forecaster is in a given forecast. I like to view them on Weather Underground since they process the discussions to get rid of the annoying ALL CAPS. For each area you are going to travel through search on the city name/airport code. Then click "scientific forecaster discussion" on the bottom of the forecast section.

You can view the aviation portion of that discussion in annoying ALL CAPS if you go to aviationweather.gov and select "TAF Forecast Discussions".
 
Regarding accuweather, I stay far away from them ever since this fiasco. Thankfully the bill never made it out of committee.
 
With the way things are shaping up I would say a Friday departure would involve flying on the backside of a low. Research the weather you could expect. Cold ground plus rain makes for fog, among other things.
 
dmccormack said:
I use accuweather to get an idea about any wx more than 3 days out, but it's purely entertainment. I don't flight plan more than 3 days out.

I start looking at ADDS surface prog charts, then confirm with a look at the High Progs (helps confirm direction of lows and highs) two days out.

Big Hs are usually good, and there is one heading our way.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's why I'm hopeful this time around, big high pressure moving across at the same time. Friday forecast is clear both places
 
scottd said:
That's true, but the aviation section from the link you posted will mainly focus on the TAF period (within the next 24 hours). Although some forecasters will add a brief discussion of the outlook over the next day or two.
Click to expand...
From what I've seen there's usually a link from the individual NOAA sites to a forecast discussion that's not so limited nor so TAF-specific. For example, on the DTX site you can get the current discussion under Forecast Discussion (on the left side list of links) or if you hate all-caps, the same discussion is also under Expert Opinion up top. I haven't yet found a NOAA site that doesn't have a link to the full discussion, but I haven't visited more than a handful so far. That doesn't mean they all do though. And unfortunately there's no uniformity between the NOAA sites, so it can take some digging to find the right link on some of them.
 
Great article Scott. Thanks. I've been reading the forecaster discussions for a while, since long before I started flying. They've taught me a lot about weather.
 
Trip cancelled, gotta work Friday, and the plane is grounded :(
 
scottd said:
That's true, but the aviation section from the link you posted will mainly focus on the TAF period (within the next 24 hours). Although some forecasters will add a brief discussion of the outlook over the next day or two.
Click to expand...

For the ones in my area, they always provide discussion for the next few days
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top