VFR "picking his way thru" heavy cells with XM Radio weather

"Dylan Smith" wrote in message
...
....
... I hate to think what the ride would be
like only 10 miles from that storm!

--
Yes, the Reply-To email address is valid.
Oolite-Linux: an Elite tribute: http://oolite-linux.berlios.de

No one has mentioned the phenomena where hail is thrown out of the top or
side of the really big CB and may be tossed for miles, and its really not
that uncommon.

--
Jim Carter
Rogers, Arkansas

On Tue, 5 Jun 2007 20:26:59 -0500, "Jim Carter"
wrote in
:

No one has mentioned the phenomena where hail is thrown out of the top or
side of the really big CB and may be tossed for miles, and its really not
that uncommon.


I mentioned that I was trained to skirt CBs by 20 miles. Of course,
that is the reason.

It's often difficult to maintain good situational awareness of the
buildups if you are in VMC under a cell's base, or the buildups begin
to merge.




http://www.weather.com/encyclopedia/thunder/hail.html
Hail
Hail is precipitation in the form of a chunk of ice that can fall
from a cumulonimbus cloud. Usually associated with multicell,
supercell and cold front induced squall line thunderstorms, most
hail falls from the central region of a cloud in a severe storm.

Hail begins as tiny ice pellets that collide with water droplets.
The optimum freezing level for the formation of hail is from 8,000
to 10,000 feet.

The water droplets attach themselves to the ice pellets and begin
to freeze as strong updraft winds toss the pellets and droplets
back up into the colder regions of the upper levels of the cloud.
As the attached droplets freeze, the pellets become larger.

Both gravity and downdraft thunderstorm winds pull the pellets
back down, where they encounter more droplets that attach and
freeze as the pellets are thrown, once again, back up through the
cloud.

Hailstones
The more times a hailstone is tossed up and down through the
cloud, the larger the hailstone will be. Hailstones the size of
softballs had many more trips up and down through the cloud than
pea-sized hailstones.

Large hailstones are an indication of powerful updraft and
downdraft winds within a thunderstorm. This is why large hail is
associated with severe thunderstorms.

To create pea-size hail (about 1/2 inch in diameter) winds within
the thunderstorm updraft will generally be around 20 miles per
hour. Quarter size hail (3/4 of an inch in diameter) requires
updrafts of about 40 miles per hour.

Golf ball size hail (1 3/4 inches in diameter) needs updrafts of
around 55 miles per hour and softball size hail, approximately 100
miles per hour! ...

"Larry Dighera" wrote:

I mentioned that I was trained to skirt CBs by 20 miles. Of course,
that is the reason.

Maintaining such a hard rule WRT to *all* CBs would make flyng a very
difficult proposition down South in the summertime, as Dylan has pointed out.
Not all CBs need such a wide berth.


It's often difficult to maintain good situational awareness of the
buildups if you are in VMC under a cell's base, or the buildups begin
to merge.

That's what XM WX is for, praised be its name!

--
Dan
? at BFM

On Wed, 6 Jun 2007 06:17:34 -0500, "Dan Luke"
wrote in
:


"Larry Dighera" wrote:

I mentioned that I was trained to skirt CBs by 20 miles. Of course,
that is the reason.

Maintaining such a hard rule WRT to *all* CBs would make flyng a very
difficult proposition down South in the summertime, as Dylan has pointed out.
Not all CBs need such a wide berth.


What method of avoiding hail is used there?


It's often difficult to maintain good situational awareness of the
buildups if you are in VMC under a cell's base, or the buildups begin
to merge.

That's what XM WX is for, praised be its name!

Some information is better than none, even if it is stale.

On 2007-06-06, Larry Dighera wrote:
Maintaining such a hard rule WRT to *all* CBs would make flyng a very
difficult proposition down South in the summertime, as Dylan has pointed out.
Not all CBs need such a wide berth.

What method of avoiding hail is used there?

It's extremely rare for hail to fall out of a typical airmass storm in
coastal Texas, and when it does, it tends to fall out of the bottom of
the storm, not be deposited miles from the rest of the precipitation.
Indeed, I've never known hail to fall out of such a storm at all
(although it undoubtedly must happen from time to time).

The times I saw hail in coastal Texas, it was always associated with a
line of severe thunderstorms, never the afternoon airmass storms. Flying
close to a line of thunderstorms anywhere is a bit foolhardy.

--
Yes, the Reply-To email address is valid.
Oolite-Linux: an Elite tribute: http://oolite-linux.berlios.de

"Larry Dighera" wrote:

That's what XM WX is for, praised be its name!

Some information is better than none, even if it is stale.

Have you used it?

On Wed, 6 Jun 2007 10:50:09 -0500, "Dan Luke"
wrote in
:


"Larry Dighera" wrote:

That's what XM WX is for, praised be its name!

Some information is better than none, even if it is stale.

Have you used it?


No.

"Larry Dighera" wrote:


That's what XM WX is for, praised be its name!

Some information is better than none, even if it is stale.

Have you used it?


No.

Then, with respect, you have little practical information on which to judge
its value in operational situations. "Some information is better than none"
does not do justice to the superb weather awareness it provides. It is far
superior to using ATC/Fligh****ch.

As to the "stale" business, in 200+ hours of using the product in the most
thunderstorm-infested region of the U. S., I have found 6-8 minute maximum
lag a non issue for avoiding CBs.

--
Dan

"The future has actually been here for a while, it's just not readily
available to everyone."
- some guy at MIT

"Jim Carter" wrote in message
t...
"Dylan Smith" wrote in message
...
...
... I hate to think what the ride would be
like only 10 miles from that storm!

--
Yes, the Reply-To email address is valid.
Oolite-Linux: an Elite tribute: http://oolite-linux.berlios.de

No one has mentioned the phenomena where hail is thrown out of the top or
side of the really big CB and may be tossed for miles, and its really not
that uncommon.

A good case for a lightning detector.