"Dan Luke" wrote in message
...
...it's hard to see through, and good ol' Gulf Coast home boys like me
should
not mess around with it.

Edifying story, Dan! Glad it worked out.

Southeast of Hobby, the last controller for some reason had me climb from
2,000 to 2,200, saying "advise if unable." Hmm. Shortly thereafter, the
vis. started to fall as he vectored me west to put me south of Hobby, and
I
had to request lower to maintain VFR. It was snowing.

I'm a little unclear as to how descending could improve your visibility in
snowfall. I see how you could get a better view of the ground, but the
VFR/IFR distinction is primarily for aircraft separation rather than
navigation, and is thus defined in terms of flight visibility, not ground
visibility.

I too have encountered worse-than-forecast visibility, to the point of
finding IMC in place of expected good VMC. It's not just a problem with snow
or other precipitation. (Once, it was a matter of smoke from forest fires in
Canada descending through the lower atmosphere in the vicinity of New York
City!) I don't always file IFR for XCs, but I do make sure to have a backup
plan in case of any remotely-plausible IMC.

--Gary