Meteorology
Pressure systems, fronts, icing, thunderstorms, and the standard atmosphere. Reading a forecast the way a pilot reads it, not the way a phone app shows it.
Fronts Explained
Warm fronts overrun. Cold fronts undercut. The slope of the frontal surface sets the cloud stack, the precipitation footprint, and the flight-planning decision.
- 02WX-01 · 10 min readReading a METARA field-by-field decode of a routine aviation weather report, plus the standard atmosphere every pilot must carry in their head.
- 03WI-03 · 6 min readLake Michigan Weather for PilotsLake Michigan and Lake Superior manufacture their own weather. A pilot flying the Wisconsin shoreline learns to expect it — and to fly around it.
- Density AltitudePressure altitude + temperature correction
The pressure altitude corrected for non-standard temperature; the altitude at which the airplane 'thinks' it is.
- Standard AtmosphereISA · 29.92" Hg / 15 °C at SL
The international reference atmosphere used to calibrate instruments and performance data.
- Dew PointSaturation temperature
The temperature at which the air, cooled at constant pressure, becomes saturated with water vapor.
- METARRoutine surface weather report
A coded hourly observation of surface weather at an airport.
- TAFTerminal Aerodrome Forecast
A 24- to 30-hour forecast of weather conditions at an airport, issued four times per day.
- CeilingLowest broken/overcast
The height above ground of the lowest broken (BKN) or overcast (OVC) layer, or the vertical visibility into an obscuration.