Skates97
Pre-takeoff checklist
Yeah, but high winds at what altitude, from which direction, and at what strength? If the winds are from the coast and screaming at the ridge on which Julian is located, then there will be lots of updrafts on the windward side and lots of turbulence on the leeward side.
Take a look on the day of the flight, and have an out if the turbulence is more than you want to deal with, but I’d say this will give you a good learning experience. You seem to be flying a lot right now, expanding your limitations. This will be a good way for you to practice your decision making skills. Look at the winds (windy.com is a great resource) take a look at the isobars, and then go fly unless things are really bad. Make sure you have an out if it’s worse than expected, but use it as a learning experience. I suspect that, especially if you are flying in the morning, and at 8,500 feet, you’ll be fine.
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Windy.com is great for forecasting and is fairly accurate. I'm not sure where they are pulling their data from but I have been referencing it for the past year and have been impressed. You can also click an airport and it will give you METAR history as well as the TAF if the airport has one and a visual forecast with winds and cloud coverage. You can use the slider along the bottom to look at different days and there is a slider for altitudes to see the forecast at different altitudes. Click the different forecast models in the bottom right and that will give you a better generalized picture.