Online Tools for Icing

When it comes to avoiding structural icing, the enhanced infrared satellite image (<a href="http://aviationweather.gov/adds/satellite/) is one of the most under-utilized icing diagnostic tools available. Updated every 15 minutes, this satellite product can provide some amazing clues about the potential for structural icing, especially when combined with METARs, TAFs and NEXRAD. As a bonus, the technique also works very well at night.

Key Takeaways:

• The enhanced infrared satellite image is an under-utilized tool, updated every 15 minutes, that helps pilots identify cloud top temperatures and heights (when combined with soundings) to predict structural icing potential, even at night.
• The Aviation Digital Data Service (ADDS) offers supplemental icing diagnostic algorithms such as the hourly updated Current Icing Product (CIP) and Forecast Icing Potential (FIP), along with G-AIRMETs, to assess the likelihood and extent of structural icing.
• A comprehensive approach to avoiding structural icing involves integrating these advanced tools (enhanced IR, CIP/FIP, G-AIRMETs, forecast soundings) with traditional weather resources like METARs, TAFs, PIREPs, and NEXRAD for a complete and safer weather picture.

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