"Michael" wrote:

There really are times when you can have areas of yellow and red, in
conditions that look like they favor convective activity, and in fact
right next to convective activity, which are nonetheless stratiform and
quite comfortable to penetrate. The key is knowing that convection is
not there. Now how one is to know that without a good 'spherics device
is beyond me.

WxWorx.

Red precip without lightning: http://www.seaerospace.com/garmin/396pic2.jpg

Red precip with lightning: http://www.seaerospace.com/garmin/396pic8.jpg

http://www.seaerospace.com/garmin/396pic9.jpg

It is not real time like 'spherics, but it is timely enough to have tactical
value. I have seen it accurately show lightning where there was not yet any
precip. depicted. I've used it--coincidentally in the Destin area--to
penetrate weather that ATC had warned me about. The little inverted
triangles are METARs that are very useful in verifying the nature of NEXRAD
returns.

Both have their limitations. The optimum situation would be to have
'spherics *and* satellite. Having to choose, I'll take the XM weather
because it does so much more.

--
Dan
C-172RG at BFM