Quick/Easy Aviation weather website or app?

mswmsw

mswmsw

Pre-Flight
Joined
Jul 1, 2010
Messages
86
Display Name
Display name:
mswmsw
I've been away from light general aviation airplane flying for about five years. Back then, my favorite "go to" site for local or X-C flights in my Cherokee was Duats.com....... it was quick & easy to use....... but sadly, now, it is gone. Any recommendation for what to use these days? I'd prefer something simple, but that "counts" as an official (legal) weather briefing, and has the capacity to file a flight plane as well. What are some options - either web based and/or with an app available (free is always best) - and their pros and cons? Thanks.
 
easy-not-free, I liked weatherspork's interface.

I can't think of the last time I got an "official" briefing what with all of the available in-flight weather doodadery
 
www.windy.com

It's has not just the wind... turn on the little "airports" icon (it looks like a little airplane), and it'll also show you METAR's, TAF's, and NOTAM's.
It can show you not just wind... but rain, thunderstorms, cloud bases, cloud tops, you name it.
It has forecasts for all of the above.
You can use it with a browser, or with an app.
I find it an excellent way of getting the big picture of the weather over not just for an afternoon, but out a week.

It does NOT, however, file flight plans, or show TFR's. For those things, www.1800wxbrief.com is better, and "official".
 
1800wxbrief to CYA since your login is registered before your flight.

But I find the GFA tool on the NOAA AviationWeather site to be more informative and easier to use. For example... gridded winds aloft, icing forecasts, turbulence forecasts by altitude, etc. Plus the site has the Weather Discussion section which is a great addition to understand the uncertainties in forecasts.

For anything >24 hours in advance, I'm looking at Windy.com. Looking out 2-3 days you can start to use results the high resolution NAM model; before that the European model is usually pretty accurate for the next 4-5 days.
 
I flight plan with Windy. But I almost always get a briefing before I go because, well, why not let a professional help you out for free...
 
I use Windy, 1-800, the Aviation Weather Center and as mentioned their GFA tool plus weather in Garmin Pilot before I launch. I also have My Radar and Aero Weather as apps. And yep despite all of those resources, I still get surprised from time to time.
 
I use windy.com and file and brief through Foreflight. Windy is great for seeing how the wx is moving.
 
  • If you haven't yet, get an I Pad mini and get ForeFlight (about 100 people will jump in and say get Garmin Pilot, but if I said "get Garmin Pilot" then 100 different guys would jump in and say get ForeFlight).
  • 1800wxbrief.com is a nice place as well.
  • BTW - Was probably taught by an "old fashioned CFI", but if I'm going on a trip over 2-3 hours I do still call (using the cell phone as a phone none the less) the nice 1 800 WXBRIEF person.
 
My EFB (Droid EFB) comes with a little side app called Quickweather. It uses many of the same graphics as Leidos, but presents everything in an easy to quickly digest format. For the full Monty go to the leidos site. But I bet most EFBs have a good weather interface.
 
AeroWeather is a free iPhone app that I use frequently. It’s the fastest way I have found to get a handful of favorite airports’ METAR and TAF.
 
Ooooh! I like the Windy app! It vibrates to lightning strikes... COOL!
 
+1 Windy.com It aggregates a number of wx sources

aviationweather.gov

the others are too bloated with adds.
 
I use Fltplan.com (the free version) supplemented by aviationweather.gov and skyvector.com. When I just want to quickly check for updates I use the Easy Aviation Weather - WX app.
 
WeatherSpork and Foreflight's integrated weather tools.
 
For the most accurate weather, rely upon the AWOR (aviation weather observation rock).


upload_2020-8-26_7-55-35.png

  • If the rock is wet, it's raining.
  • If the rock is swinging, the wind is blowing.
  • If the rock casts a shadow, the sun is shining.
  • If the rock does not cast a shadow and is not wet, the sky is cloudy.
  • If the rock is difficult to see, it is foggy.
  • If the rock is white, it is snowing.
  • If the rock is coated with ice, there is a frost.
  • If the ice is thick, it's a heavy frost.
  • If the rock is bouncing, there is an earthquake.
  • If the rock is under water, there is a flood.
  • If the rock is warm, it is sunny.
  • If the rock is missing, there was a tornado.
  • If the rock is wet and swinging violently, there is a hurricane.
  • If the rock can be felt but not seen, it is night time.
  • If the rock has white splats on it, beware of bird activity over the airport.
  • If there are two rocks, stop drinking and wait at least 8 hours before flying.
 
Here's my morning routine on days I plan to fly:
Check local weather radar at:
https://www.wunderground.com/
Check NOTAMS for my local airport and destination at:
https://pilotweb.nas.faa.gov/PilotWeb/
Sometimes I check ADS-B availability:
https://sapt.faa.gov/outages.php?outageType=129001250&outageResolution=0.5
Sometimes I check the local airline traffic at:
https://flightaware.com/live/airport/KHSV
Then I check FORECAST DISCUSSION and METAR at:
https://www.aviationweather.gov
Finally, plan flight and check winds aloft, fuel prices, and TFRs at:
https://www.aopa.org/flightplanner/
and
https://www.windy.com/
and of course:
https://www.1800wxbrief.com/Website/#!/
The last one is when I decide to fly and get official.
 
cgrab said:
Here's my morning routine on days I plan to fly:
Check local weather radar at:
https://www.wunderground.com/
Check NOTAMS for my local airport and destination at:
https://pilotweb.nas.faa.gov/PilotWeb/
Sometimes I check ADS-B availability:
https://sapt.faa.gov/outages.php?outageType=129001250&outageResolution=0.5
Sometimes I check the local airline traffic at:
https://flightaware.com/live/airport/KHSV
Then I check FORECAST DISCUSSION and METAR at:
https://www.aviationweather.gov
Finally, plan flight and check winds aloft, fuel prices, and TFRs at:
https://www.aopa.org/flightplanner/
and
https://www.windy.com/
and of course:
https://www.1800wxbrief.com/Website/#!/
The last one is when I decide to fly and get official.
Click to expand...


That's a lot of websites to wade through. I typically use windy.com to visualize the big picture, then brief in ForeFlight. The FF briefing gets me all the METARs, TAFs, NOTAMs, TFRs, winds aloft, convective outlook, etc. in one package. Simple.
 
I like weathermeister.com. Nice formatting of all the pertinent information. It's worth the few bucks to get the subscription.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top