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Private Pilot License > Weather > Flashcards

Weather Flashcards

1
Q

What causes Weather?

A
  • The Sun’s uneven heating of Earth
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2
Q

Who issues all weather regarding aviation?

A
  • National Weather Service
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3
Q

What is a Meteorological Aerodome Report (METAR)?

A
  • They report the current weather within 5NM of an airport
  • They are updated every hour and are good for an hour
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4
Q

What is a Terminal Area Forecast (TAF)?

A
  • They forecast the weather within 5NM of an airport
  • They are updated every 6hrs and are good for 24-30hrs
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5
Q

What is an Airmen’s Meteorological Information (AIRMET)?

A
  • They advise of weather that maybe hazardous to single engine, other light aircraft, and VFR pilots. However, operators of large aircraft may also be concerned with these reports
  • They are updated every 6hrs and are good for 6hrs
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6
Q

What are the types of AIRMETs?

A
  • T: Turbulence
  • Z: Icing
  • S: Mountain Obscurations
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7
Q

What is a Significant Meteorological Information (SIGMET)?

A
  • They are a severe weather advisory that concern the safety of all aircraft
  • They are unscheduled and most of them are valid for 4hrs
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8
Q

What are the types of SIGMETs?

A
  • Icing
  • Turbulence
  • Duststorms/Sandstorms
  • Volcanic Ash
  • Hurricane - valid for 6hrs
  • Convective - valid for 2hrs
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9
Q

What could be considered a Convective Sigmet?

A
  • Thunderstorms
  • Hail
  • Tornadoes
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10
Q

What is a Center Weather Advisory (CWA)?

A
  • They are an unscheduled weather advisory for conditions approaching or meeting WA, WS, or WST criteria
  • They are valid for 2hrs and conditions are expected to begin within 2hrs of issuance
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11
Q

What are Notice To Air Mission (NOTAM)?

A
  • They are a notice containing information essential to flight operations but not known far enough in advance to be publicized
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12
Q

What are Pilot Weather Reports (PIREPs)?

A
  • They are reports of current weather encountered by pilots
  • They can be submitted to a FSS, NWS website, or to ATC (say “with pilot report”)
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13
Q

What is a High Pressure system?

A
  • An area where the atmospheric pressure is higher than its surroundings
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14
Q

What are the characteristics of a High Pressure system?

A
  • They move down and outward in a clockwise direction
  • They generally bring fair weather
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15
Q

What is a Low Pressure System?

A
  • An area where the atmospheric pressure is lower than its surroundings
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16
Q

What are the characteristics of a Low Pressure system?

A
  • They move up and inward in a counter-clockwise direction
  • They usually bring bad weather
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17
Q

What is a Trough?

A
  • It is an extended area of low pressure
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18
Q

How can you indentify a Trough on a Prog Chart?

A
  • They are represented by an orange line
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19
Q

What are Isobars?

A
  • They are light gray lines on a prog chart that connect areas with the same pressure (measured in millibars)
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20
Q

What happens when you fly across Isobars?

A
  • You may encounter changes in wind speed and direction
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21
Q

What is an Air Mass?

A
  • A large body of air with generally uniform temperature and humidity
  • They are created by source regions
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22
Q

What is a Front?

A
  • The boundary between air masses
  • They bring a change in weather
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23
Q

What happens when you fly across a Front?

A
  • You will notice a change in temperature, pressure, wind, and other factors
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24
Q

What is a Sea Breeze?

A
  • It is not a front but it also generates weather
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25
Q

What is a Cold Front?

A
  • When a cold air mass wedges underneath a warm air mass, forcing the warm air to rise. The cold air advances, replacing the warm air at the surface. Rain and even thunderstorms can form as the moisture in the warm air mass rises, cools, and condenses
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26
Q

What are the characteristics of a Cold Front?

A
  • They typically travel between 10-30kts
  • They usually bring light to heavy rain and thunderstorms, depending on the steepness of the front’s slope
  • As the front passes, cool and fair weather is expected
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27
Q

What are Squall Lines?

A
  • It is a line of thunderstorms, often forming along or ahead of a cold front
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28
Q

What is a Warm Front?

A
  • It is when a warm air mass advances and rises above a colder air mass. As the warm rises, the temperature drops and condensation occurs, forming clouds
29
Q

What are the characteristics of a Warm Front?

A
  • They typically travel between 10-15kts
  • They usually bring widespread precipitation, bad visibilty, low ceilings and turbulence
  • As the front passes, warmer and milder weather is expected
30
Q

What is an Occluded Front?

A
  • The most common type is when a warm air mass gets caught between two cold air masses. The warm air mass rises as the cool air masses push and meet in the middle
31
Q

What are the characteristics of an Occluded Front?

A
  • They typically bring strong winds and heavy precipitation
  • As the front passes, the sky is usually clearer
32
Q

What is a Stationary Front?

A
  • This is when two air masses are pushing against each other, but neither is powerful enough to move the other
33
Q

What are the characteristics of a Stationary Front?

A
  • They typically last for a few days
  • They bring a mix of weather from warm and cold fronts
34
Q

What is a Microburst?

A
  • It is a strong downward and outward gushing wind system
35
Q

What is Wind Shear?

A
  • It is a sudden change in wind direction and/or wind velocity
  • They can cause a sudden loss of airspeed
36
Q

What are the types of Fog?

A
  • Radiation
  • Advection
  • Steam
  • Upslope
37
Q

What is Radiation Fog?

A
  • It forms when the ground cools the surrounding air
  • It is most prevalent during the fall and winter
38
Q

What is Advection Fog?

A
  • It forms as warmer, moist air moves over a cold ground
39
Q

What is Steam Fog?

A
  • It forms when a cold and dry air mass moves over a warm body of water
40
Q

What is Upslope Fog?

A
  • This occurs when sloping terrain lifts air, cooling it to its dew point
41
Q

What is Dew Point?

A
  • It is the temperature which an air molecule must be cooled to in order for it to become saturated
42
Q

What does it mean when Dew Point and Temperature are close together?

A
  • There will be visible moisture in the air
43
Q

How does Icing occur?

A
  • When your flying through visible moisture and the temperature where the moisture strikes the aircraft is 0° C or colder
44
Q

What are the types of Icing?

A
  • Clear Ice
  • Rime Ice
  • Mixed Ice
45
Q

What is Clear Ice?

A
  • When water flows over the aircraft surface gradually freezing as a smooth sheet of solid ice
  • This is the most dangerous type of ice becasue it is heavy, hard to see, and changes the shape of the wing
46
Q

What is Rime Ice?

A
  • This forms when water instantly freezes as it hits the aircraft’s surface
47
Q

What is Mixed Ice?

A
  • It is a combination of clear and rime ice
48
Q

What is Freezing Rain?

A
  • It is when warm rain falls through a freezing layer causing them to become super cooled
  • This causes rapid and severe ice accumulation
49
Q

What are Freezing Levels?

A
  • It represents the altitude in which the temperature is at 0° C
50
Q

How can you find the Freezing Levels?

A
  • Take a look at the Winds Aloft
  • Temperature drops about 2° C for every 1,000ft of altitude gained
51
Q

What is Stable Air?

A
  • Air that resists vertical movement
52
Q

What are the characteristics of Stable Air?

A
  • Stratiform Clouds
  • Smooth Air
  • Low Visibility
  • Continous Precipitation
53
Q

What is Unstable Air?

A
  • Air that is prone to vertical movement
54
Q

What are the characteristics of Unstable Air?

A
  • Cumuliform Clouds
  • Turbulent Air
  • Good Visibilty
  • Showery Precipitation
55
Q

What are Cumulus clouds?

A
  • They are clouds that have flat bases and are often described as puffy, fluffy, or piled up
  • They have some vertical developmet but not bad to fly in
56
Q

What are Stratus clouds?

A
  • Clouds with horizontal layering with a uniform base
  • They are not good flying weather
57
Q

What are Lenticular Clouds?

A
  • They are visual signs of mountain waves
58
Q

How do you calculate the base of a cloud?

A
  • Temperature - Dew Point
  • Divide by 4.4
  • Add Field Elevation (your answer will be in thousand of feet)
59
Q

What is a Thunderstorm?

A
  • It is a rain-bearing cloud that also produces lightning
60
Q

What ingredients are required to create a Thunderstrom?

A
  • Moisture
  • Unstable Air
  • A Lifting Action
61
Q

What are the stages of a Thunderstrom?

A
  • Devolping Stage
  • Mature Stage
  • Disspating Stage
62
Q

Describe the Devolping Stage

A
  • It consists of a cumulus cloud that is being pushed upward by a rising column of air (updraft). The cumulus cloud soon looks like a tower (called towering cumulus) as the updraft continues to develop. There is little to no rain during this stage but occasional lightning
63
Q

Describe the Mature Stage

A
  • Precipitation begins to fall out of the storm, creating a downdraft. The mature stage is the most likely time for hail, heavy rain, frequent lightning, strong winds, and tornadoes
64
Q

Describe the Dissipating Stage

A
  • Eventually the updraft is overcome by the downdraft beginning the dissipating stage. Rainfall decreases in intensity, but lightning remains a danger
65
Q

What is a Temperature Inversion?

A
  • It is a layer in the atmosphere in which air temperature increases with altitude
  • It usually indicates a warm air mass over a cold air mass
66
Q

What are the characteristics of a Temperature Inversion?

A
  • They are stable while flying in it but become very unstable below and above it
  • It creates an elevated level of low visibilty becasue it traps dust and pollutents
67
Q

What is Surface Friction?

A
  • The surface of the Earth exerts a frictional drag on the air blowing just above it. This friction can act to change the wind’s direction and slow it down keeping it from blowing as fast as the wind aloft
  • The difference in terrain conditions directly affects how much friction is exerted
68
Q

What are considered Ceilings?

A
  • Broken or Overcast
69
Q

Saturation vs Condensation

A
  • Saturation: When the air contains the maximum amount of water vapor it can hold at a given temperature and pressure. If more water vapor is added beyond this point, it will result in condensation
  • Condensation: The process by which a gas or vapor changes into a liquid

Private Pilot License (15 decks)

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