AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2013 - 86

P&E

WX WATCH

to the Mid-Atlantic? To some degree this
shows the effects of surface friction on
the slow-moving warm front as it passes
over the eastern Appalachians. If the bulge
extends the length of the Appalachians,
another way to look at it is to think of the
front as following the lower-level contours
of higher terrain. The front also reflects a
leftover low layer of comparatively cool air
ahead of the warm front, hugging the surface from the previous days. In the early
morning, low IMC was the rule east of the
Appalachians, and as the day wore on ceilings lifted in this region—but conditions in
the Northeast remained rotten.

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Anyone planning a flight
in the Northeast on a day
like this better be
instrument-current.
What created this mess in the first
place? An area on the east side of a trough in
the upper atmosphere, where lifting forces
typically prevail. Air rising aloft means air at
the surface must converge, and when winds
converge at the surface there’s no place else
to go but up.
In the colder regions of this frontal
complex, clouds are most likely layered
and ice-laden. But ahead of the cold front
in western Pennsylvania we see thunderstorms. So it’s a little bit of everything—and
a fairly common situation in the fall and
spring months. Anyone planning a flight
in the Northeast on a day like this better
be instrument-current, have datalink or
airborne weather radar (and know how
to use and interpret both), and be flying
an airplane that has certified flight-intoknown-ice (FIKI) equipment—and plenty
of fuel. With a destination in New England
you may fly a long way before reaching a
suitable alternate airport. This makes
already-tense missed approaches even
more tense. Better to have a couple hours
of reserve fuel than the legal, 45-minute
minimum on days like these.
AOPA
EMAIL tom.horne@aopa.org

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86 | AOPA PILOT March 2013

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2013

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