Dont Like The Weather? Wait An Hour

If you take a big look at the general weather patterns across the entire contiguous U.S., youll see a rather marked difference. The eastern U.S. from about the Mississippi River to the Atlantic has a pattern that is often the least flexible, with adverse weather that can be frustratingly stable. Weather not very friendly to airplanes can persist there for days. Still, though, the worst weather-i.e., convective activity-is usually transient. Next is the area from the Mississippi to the Rockies. This area can get some rather severe weather, too, but the worst of it usually doesnt last long. While you may have to avoid the thunderstorms, tornadoes, ice storms, etc., an early start or short delay will usually make the difference between "dont-go-there" weather and reasonable VMC. Of course, like anywhere, it can still have its periods of low IMC that just hang there with no hope of a quick reprieve. The next area that we can generalize is from the Rockies all the way to the Pacific coast. Here, other than predictable isolated cells or cell clusters, severe weather is far less common. Indeed, other than the infamous coastal fog layers that can last for weeks, the weather in the West is seldom even IMC for more than a few hours at a time.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Pilots can often avoid the worst of adverse weather conditions by adjusting their departure time by a few hours, as severe weather is frequently transient rather than long-lasting.
Effective utilization of this strategy requires thorough analysis of area and terminal forecasts (TAFs) to identify weather trends, enabling pilots to strategically depart earlier or later to find more favorable flying conditions.
While beneficial for both VFR and IFR pilots, this timing adjustment is a supplement to, not a replacement for, comprehensive flight planning, sound go/no-go decision-making, and understanding personal limitations and the specific type of weather.

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As a professional pilot, Ive often flown over 600 hours a year, and up to 80 hours or so in a month. With all that flying, I log less than 10 approaches to near minimums in a year and probably only one or two are all the way down to actual minimums. This suggests weather is usually reasonably good (Or you know someone at crew scheduling! -Ed.). That, in turn, suggests observing weather patterns and briefly waiting out the worst of it, or leaving a few hours early may be a very