Last evening, a friend of mine, who is also a pilot and is still flying, and I were discussing the weather and the effects that the weather has on flying. If any of us are Weather Channel junkies, then we hear a lot about La Nina and El Nino. When we are studying to attain our pilot's license, we do spend a lot of classroom time studying the weather, especially cloud formations and the effects the jet stream has when we fly through it, or over it. Weather is very important to flying and in the past has been a major contributor to airplane accidents. That is not necessarily the case today because we understand weather conditions, jet stream involvement and cloud formations more now than ever before. And besides, most airliners now have Doppler radar on-board, so that pilots can better predict the weather that they are or will be flying through.
My friend, who flies predominantly up and down the eastern seaboard is a bit of a weather guru, or at least that's what I call him. This year's spring weather along the eastern seaboard has been very unsettled and in fact, for those of us living in that region, we have had at least some rain and high winds in the last seven consecutive weekends, meaning that a lot of outdoor activities have suffered because of this. La Nina and El Nino, although they are mainly developed in the Pacific region, still has an effect on our weather in the east, but mostly only temperatures and precipitation amounts are effected thanks to the jet stream carrying these weather phenoms across the U.S. to the Eastern Seaboard. Wind can also be effected at times, if the jet stream carries them this far east.
Because the meteorologists keeps an eye peeled to both La Nina and El Nino and the jet stream, this is how they are able to predict the weather days in advance. Being a weather reporter on TV or radio has always been considered as being wrong most of the time. A sudden change in the jet stream can usually be blamed for them being wrong. There is an old saying that used to go something like, "There is no other job in the world where a person can be wrong 75% of the time and still keep their job."
Looking ahead, it appears that those of us that live here on the east coast will have to suffer through these unsettled weather conditions for at least a few more weeks. It's going to make scheduling outdoor activities a nightmare, as well. What I think is pretty neat is when people will tell me that it's going to rain or snow or get colder because their arthritis is acting up. There is some truth to this personal weather forecast. Health can be effected by the weather at times.
My friend, who flies predominantly up and down the eastern seaboard is a bit of a weather guru, or at least that's what I call him. This year's spring weather along the eastern seaboard has been very unsettled and in fact, for those of us living in that region, we have had at least some rain and high winds in the last seven consecutive weekends, meaning that a lot of outdoor activities have suffered because of this. La Nina and El Nino, although they are mainly developed in the Pacific region, still has an effect on our weather in the east, but mostly only temperatures and precipitation amounts are effected thanks to the jet stream carrying these weather phenoms across the U.S. to the Eastern Seaboard. Wind can also be effected at times, if the jet stream carries them this far east.
Because the meteorologists keeps an eye peeled to both La Nina and El Nino and the jet stream, this is how they are able to predict the weather days in advance. Being a weather reporter on TV or radio has always been considered as being wrong most of the time. A sudden change in the jet stream can usually be blamed for them being wrong. There is an old saying that used to go something like, "There is no other job in the world where a person can be wrong 75% of the time and still keep their job."
Looking ahead, it appears that those of us that live here on the east coast will have to suffer through these unsettled weather conditions for at least a few more weeks. It's going to make scheduling outdoor activities a nightmare, as well. What I think is pretty neat is when people will tell me that it's going to rain or snow or get colder because their arthritis is acting up. There is some truth to this personal weather forecast. Health can be effected by the weather at times.
