Aero Club Wx Brief
Home Up My IP Page Aero Club Wx Brief   

NW USA Weather

 Current Time:  Mtn  GMT   SR/SS Yrly Tbl SR/SS by Day  FcstPage   Last revised: 27 Dec 2007

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If you find a link that does not work, please email me at aviation@heckmangeoscience.com Return to Top Menu

The Wx Brief Page is organized into four sections which are listed below. Make your selection by clicking on one of the four sections.

A First Look

Strategic Wx Planning

 Tactical Wx Planning Briefing Sites
If you want to obtain data for a local or a training flight in Colorado Front Range region and Colorado Mountains, select A Quick Look.

You'll find selected analyses, METARs, TAFs, and Satellite and Doppler Radar data. You can also find a number of aviation calculators.

For more detailed wx information that you can use for cross country (XC) flights, go to the Strategic and Tactical Wx Planning sections.

 Portions of this section are completed, but it needs much review and revision. My objective is to create a site that combines AOPA's Weather Strategies and Tactics, the NWS's Standard Pilot Briefing page, and other sources into a strategic planning site for my flight students and others interested in learning more about aviation weather and how to make flights more efficient and safe.  UNDER CONSTRUCTION If you're familiar with the use of weather information in flight planning or want lots of additional information, you should follow this links to several excellent aviation weather sites.

These include the NWS's Aviation Weather Page, NCAR's ADDS site, AOPA's Weather site and others.

If you know of an effective site, email me and I'll add it to the list.

 

bulletA FIRST LOOK

Return to Top Menu        Make your selection from the following menu:

Regional METARs & TAFs Surface, Upper Air Charts & Winds Aloft Doppler & Satellite Data Calculators & Forms  

 Regional METARs and TAFs. This section is under revision...

Select a map: Eastern Colorado 

Airfield METAR TAF
Fort Collins FTG SLC FA
Eagle County EGE EGE TAF
Aspen ASE ASE TAF
College Station CLL  CLL
Kremmling  20V SLC FA
Laramie LAR LAR TAF
Rawlins (RWL) RWL RWL TAF
Rifle (RIF) RIL RIL TAF

Meso-scale network at the Air Force Academy

South East Texas Observations (from Houston NWS WSFO)

Aviation Weather Center - South Central TAF

Colorado AWOS sites, including mountain stations

Return to First Look                       Return to Top Menu

Radar and Satellite Information

bulletRadar Loops                                                    Latest Image
bulletPueblo                                    PUB Latest Reflectivity
bulletDenver                                    DEN Latest Reflectivity
bulletGrand Junction                       GJT Latest Reflectivity
bulletCheyenne                                CYS Latest Reflectivity
bulletSelect any NWS Doppler Radar
bulletNWS Doppler Radar Coded Composite Product & Radar Page
bulletNational WV Loop (ADDS)
bulletNational IR Loop (ADDS)                     National IR: Latest Still Image
bulletDenver Regional Visible Satellite Loop (ADDS)    DEN Vsb: Latest Still Image
bulletDenver Regional Infrared (IR) Satellite Loop (NCAR-RAP)    DEN IR: Latest Still Image
bulletSatellite data for other Regions and Special Data (NCAR-RAP)
bulletAustin Regional Vsb Loop (NCAR-RAP)                                       Aus Vsb: Latest Still Image

Return to First Look     or     Return to Top Menu

Calculators & Forms

bulletDensity altitude (DA)
bulletA Weather Calculator (including DA, Temps, & pressure) from the El Paso NWS Forecast Office
bulletAOPA Flight Planning Form

   Surface Charts, Upper level Analyzes, and Winds Aloft for Colorado.

bulletSurface charts.
bulletSynoptic scale:    American Met Society's Datastream Surface chart . (Selected METAR data, isobars, fronts, & Doppler radar).
bulletSynoptic scale:
bulletUS Conus Scale (same one available using NWS's Standard Wx Briefing--see Briefing Sites)
bulletNorth American scale
bulletRegional scale:    Colorado Regional METARS (from NCAR-RAP); ICT or LWS Regional METARSYou can select other regional METAR data from this page. ADDS has regional METARS maps. You can also monitor hourly METARS using their METAR Java program developed by NCAR-RAP is an excellent for monitoring METARS in any region you select.
bulletUpper air charts .
bullet5,000 ft MSL or 850 Mb chart (from NCAR's Weather Page)
bullet10,000 ft MSL or 700 Mb chart (from NCAR's Weather Page)
bullet18,000 ft MSL or 500 Mb chart (from NCAR's Weather Page)
bullet30,000 ft MSL or 300 Mb chart (from NCAR's Weather Page)
bulletWinds & Temps Aloft: Rocky Mtn Region   All Regions
bulletFAA ASOS/AWOS HomePage (real-time data from all sites around the world). Some of these have been incorporated into other sections of the Aviation Page.

Return to First Look     or     Return to Top Menu

  Briefing Sites

bulletWeather Briefing--An excellent site for general weather information
bulletNCAR-NWS Aviation Digital Data Service (ADDS)--An outstanding site. Excellent for tracking weather changes, getting visual winds-aloft data, and route planning.
bulletNational Weather Service Aviation Page. Contains nearly all weather information required for a weather briefing including digital and printed reports. Also contains many of the experimental forecast products produced by NCAR and NWS.
bulletDirect User Access System (DUATS). This is a telnet access requiring a pilot's name and medical certificate number
bulletAOPA Weather Briefing service (use must have a user-id and password to access)
bulletFlightLine - On-line Newsletter - Texas A&M Flying Club

 

Return to First Look     or     Return to Top Menu

Strategic Planning Process

....Work in progress....

In this section, you can look ahead, beyond your flight today, for weather conditions that may influence a cross country (XC) or an important flight you're planning in a few days. Can an improved knowledge about weather information equip you to make better decisions? If you're planning a XC, you can rely on FSS to provide a weather briefing and prompt you toward a GO-NO GO decision. As Your responsibility as PIC is to review weather information, obtain a complete briefing, and make the final decision for the flight. 

The motivation for this document derived, in part, from AOPA's Weather Strategies and their accompanying seminar and document, Weather Tactics.

Step 1.0: 7-day forecasts & meteograms (time series of wx) for departure, en route stops, and destination aerodromes. You can select either the 7-day fcst (7-df) or the 2-day meteogram (Metg) from the regional maps. If you need other 

Western CO/WY       Eastern CO/WY   South TX 

 

 

Airport/City NWS 7-day fcst  NWS meteogram
Kremmling  7-day fcst I
Saratoga WY 7-day fcst Metgram
Laramie 7-day fcst Metgram
Hayden 7-day fcst Metgram
Steamboat Spg 7-day fcst Metgram
Greeley-Weld 7-day fcst Metgram
Winter Park 7-day fcst I
Walden 7-day fcst Metgram
Craig 7-day fcst Metgram
Rawlins WY 7-day fcst Metgram
Granby CO (GNB) 7-day fcst Metgram
YMCA Snow Mtn 7-day fcst  
Devil's Thumb 7-day fcst  
Centennial (APA) 7-day fcst Metgram
Denver (DIA) 7-day fcst Metgram
Limon (LIC)    
Colorado Springs (COS)    
Eagle (EGE) 7-day fcst Metgram
Rifle (RIF) 7-day fcst Metgram
Leavenworth WA 7-day fcst  
Western Reg Office    
Seattle WFO SEA 7-day fcst P. Townsend 7-d fcst
Omaha WFO Omaha 7-day forecast  
Phoenix Phoenix 7-day forecast  
Devil's Thumb Pass 7-day forecast  

bb

You can obtain a 7-day forecast for any location in the United States, Guam, & Puerto Rico by going to NWS Southern Region Home Page . You can also go to the top of the forecast that you are currently reviewing and enter a city or zip code. 

Return to Strategic Planning     or     Return to Top Menu

Step 2.0: Check for Adverse conditions along your route. 

    --Select the information you want: SIGMETs & AIRMETs are the same site.

    --For a complete briefing, Go the NWS's Standard Briefing Page;  

Step 3.0: Initial conditions of the atmosphere

--Review the infrared (IR) satellite loop using the national scale.

--Surface chart, using the CONUS scale. This chart provides you an idea of airmass distribution (temperature and Td or moisture) and location of fronts.

--Forecast surface patterns (NWS) out to 48 hours.

--Upper air analyses (available after 0000Z or 1200Z only)

    --5000 feet or 850 MB level

    --10000 feet or 700 MB level

    --18000 feet or 500 MB level (main steering level for summer or winter patterns and features)

    --30000 feet or 300 MB level (where the jet stream is well defined)Initial Conditions (or the 00 hour of the computer runs).

Step 4.0 Review data from an atmospheric computer model.

Step 4.1 Review the Initial model analyses.

    -- Initial model data of moisture (RH) and Stability (Lifted Index, LI)

    --Initial Model 500 mb Analysis

    --Initial Model Sfc Analysis

      Step 4.2 Review 12 hour Forecast Conditions

o       500 MB forecast

o Surface forecast showing expected precipitation & isobars

o Atmospheric moisture (RH) and Stability (Lifted Index, LI) 

Step 4.3 Review 24 hour Forecast Conditions

o       Atmospheric moisture (RH) and Stability (Lifted Index, LI)  http://weather.unisys.com/ngm/12h/ngm_rh_12h.html 

o 500 MB forecast. 

o Surface forecast showing expected precipitation & isobars

Step 4.4 Review 36 hour Forecast Conditions

o       Atmospheric moisture (RH) and Stability (Lifted Index, LI)  

o 500 MB forecast. 

o Surface forecast showing expected precipitation & isobars

Step 5.0 Compare your findings with Area Forecasts (FA) and Transcribed Weather Enroute Broadcast (TWEBs). 

FA for: 

    --Salt Lake City Area (SLC): ID MT WY NV UT CO AZ NM   You can from this link any of the 6 FA forecasts. 

TBEW for: 

    --Colorado

 

 

 

 

Houston NWS Forecast Office

 

National Weather Service Radar Image - Short Range Base Reflectivity - Cheyenne, WY

National Weather Service Radar Image - Short Range Base Reflectivity - Dallas-Fort Worth, TX

National Weather Service Radar Image - Short Range Base Reflectivity - Houston-Galveston, TX

Texas A&M Atmospheric Sciences Weather Center

 

 References:

(1) Weather Strategies.