Don’t Let Winter Woes Affect Your Flying

Understand the seasonal shift in atmospheric weather conditions and their impact.

Monday, January 12, 2026 at 08:00 AM ET

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Low visibilities are a major hazard during the winter months as airfields can rapidly drop below minimums. [Credit: Adobe Stock]

Key Takeaways:

Winter weather is characterized by a faster, southward-shifted jet stream and greater vertical temperature differences, leading to increased atmospheric energy, instability, and a higher potential for diverse weather systems and turbulence.
Pilots must be particularly vigilant for severe icing, especially clear ice forming in "warm tongue" overrunning areas and from mixed-phase precipitation, as well as low visibility conditions caused by radiation and advection fogs.
Significant phenomena like Atmospheric Rivers bring extensive IMC, icing, and heavy precipitation, while fast-moving Alberta Clippers introduce rapid shifts in cold air, turbulence, and localized precipitation; modern tools such as SIGMETs, AIRMETs, and Graphical Turbulence Guidance are crucial for forecasting these hazards.

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For meteorologists, one of the big indicators that marks wintertime is the enormous increase in wind speed and atmospheric momentum in the Northern Hemisphere.

At the jet stream level, winds across the U.S. during July average about 20-40 knots, but in January these speeds rise to 60-80 knots and often much higher. This significantly increases the energy available to weather systems.