I'm not a weather radar expert, although I have attended Dave Gwinn's
seminars on the subject. The presence of lightning means thunderstorm. In
fact, NWS people will not positively say "thunderstorm" until they have seen
lightning. So I would stay far, far away from lightning. One of the causes
of lightning is the imbalance of charges built up when air masses move in
opposite directions...like up and down.

Pure green with no yellow or red? Sure, thats plain precip. Maybe I was too
graphic in my earlier post.

The Air Safety Foundation has some dandy DVDs on this subject.

Bob



"Dan" wrote in message
ups.com...
Bob,

I would think some green would be OK if not convective (even yellow
perhaps if it is simply a heavy rain)

How can the lightning info be used? There are two types of weather
packages avaliable for the 396. One is more expensive, but includes
lightning.

Dan





Bob Gardner wrote:
The first thing you need to understand is that the weather you see on the
396 is several minutes old...possibly as much as eleven minutes. So you
need
to watch the display and figure out which way the echoes are going, and
plan
on passing them on the upwind side. Then you need to realize that radar
reflects only decent size rain droplets, not vertical currents, not the
tops
of clouds, not turbulence. Bottom line is: Stay well clear of anything
green...yellow and red go without saying. If you have to get into the
green,
make the incursion as short as possible.

Saw a revealing presentation at a NATCA controller's conference. They
showed
a slide with several large cells being displayed, and indicated the
position
of a 172 when the scenario began. The pilot told the controller that if
he
could have a certain heading, he would be clear of the cell he saw on his
screen and could proceed to his destination. Unfortunately, by the time
he
got to the geographical area which was nice and clear on his cockpit
display
at the time he asked for the heading, the cell had moved directly into
his
path with predictable results. The message to the controllers in
attendance
was "What the pilot sees in the cockpit and real life are two different
things."

Bob Gardner

"Dan" wrote in message
oups.com...

For those of you with a Garmin 396, how do you avoid dangerous weather,
avoid yellow and steer clear of the lightning strike indications? I am
considering the purchase of one and am wondering how to use the info
safely, but yet with the maximum utility.

Dan