Late Spring Transition

No matter how carefully you plan, problems seem to appear. But they can be mitigated exercising care in planning, situational awareness, and knowledge. Here, we focus on knowledge to help you gain that essential element of situational awareness to build on the rules of thumb youre originally taught.

Tim Vasquez

Monday, April 16, 2018 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

The May-July period sees a northward retreat of the jet stream and cold fronts, leading to diverse regional weather patterns across the U.S. with generally weaker non-convective systems.
Key regional challenges include persistent marine layer fog on the West Coast, and early extreme heat with high density altitudes in the Southwest, transitioning to daily monsoon thunderstorms by June-July.
The Central and Eastern U.S. experience increased atmospheric instability, resulting in prevalent afternoon/evening thunderstorms, with the Midwest also facing nocturnal storm complexes (MCCs) and the Northeast prone to severe weather events like derechos.
Pilots are advised to maintain heightened situational awareness by monitoring localized conditions (e.g., density altitude, dewpoints, CAPE), planning morning flights when possible, and being prepared for diversions due to fog, dust storms (haboobs), or intense thunderstorm activity.

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Let’s look at the transition between spring and summer: May through July. It’s a popular travel period. With crowded ramps, tight itineraries, extra passengers, and the haphazard convective weather, it pays to have a firm grasp on the weather patterns this time of year.