While the weather data that we can now collect live in the cockpit on our avionics suites or on a portable tablet is fairly well updated and accurate, there is some weather information that can only be delivered by a human inside a cockpit.
Critical information, such as cloud tops, cloud layers, turbulence and icing conditions, is not available unless it has been provided by a pilot who has experienced and recorded the conditions. Since this information cannot be distributed to other pilots by any other means than a pilot report, or pirep, it is important that we all help each other out by submitting the data to the appropriate source.
