Good Weather Above – Clouds Above and Below
Can you remember the day when you wanted to go flying, the weather report called for good weather, but you woke up to a bad looking sky? This was one of those days.
It was winter in the Tahoe Sierra and the desert basins. A cold front just went through, a high pressure was building. It was predicted to be clear and sunny.
The next morning it was totally socked in and even foggy. No wind. Further research found out that it was sunny up high in the ski resorts. Hope came back. A serious inversion of cold air settled in the valleys with warmer air above. This created a layer of clouds probably 300 to 800 feet thick.
Loretta had'nt done much cloud flying. Since many times, clouds mean bad air, she was anxious to do some “flying with the dragons” as she calls it.
We calculated it was worth the trip to the airport hoping the clouds would burn off as the sun heated everything.
The airport was socked in with a thick cloud layer. Good thing it was a Class G airspace airport for this type of flying. The ceiling was about 800 feet above the surface and not much more. The air was still, dark and cold. No general aviation traffic could either get in or out with the clouds so the Carson City, Nevada airport was silent until the Rotax two cycle started to idle.
A perfect time to hang around the airport and do some practice patterns with touch and goes in the calm air. Once we were up, it was nice air and it was starting to open up near the hills. We fly directly towards the sun shining through the clouds. As we got closer, we could see the hole was growing from the light shining through on the ground.
The hole was large enough to make it through. As we climbed next to the clouds the sensation of movement was a new experience for Loretta, “When you're normally flying, you many times feel motionless. The clouds provide a captivating sensation of speed I have never experienced before”.
The cold moist air had pooled in the valleys had formed a stratus cloud layer just below the inversion. No vertical movement of the air at all. The moisture at the top of the inversion layer cooled enough the night before to condense and form the level clouds.
We could feel the warm air above as we climbed through the inversion. The warm air and the hot sun in your face was welcome to the cold and dreary morning. We climbed above into the warm blue sky with desert mountains clear of clouds. We had a nice ground reference next to the carpet of clouds.
As we climbed above, we could see many new holes forming all around as the clouds burned off. We were dressed for the cold with 12 volt electric gloves, so we decided to climb. We wanted to see what was blanketed and what airports might be open.
The mountains about ski area base elevation (8000 feet MSL) was clear and Lake Tahoe did not have an inversion. At 12,000 feet it did get cold, so we headed back to the airport. Calm air followed us all the way to landing. This was Loretta’s first flight through an inversion layer and closest ever to the clouds.
In This Flight We Learned:
1. Do your weather research to see if what you see is what you get.2. Stratus clouds mean calm air with little vertical air movement, and generally pleasant air to fly in.
3. Inversions are amazing weather phenomenon with a pool of cold air below and warm air above.
4. We could fly this close to the clouds because we stayed in Class G airspace, where we can be “Clear Of Clouds” ground level up to 1200 feet AGL.
WARNING
Do not try this at home. Flying near clouds can be dangerous for two reasons. First, clouds create weather because of the change of state from air moisture to water droplets, and water evaporating and creating cold air and resultant downdrafts. Second is visibility – having a visual reference with the ground and being able to see other aircraft, and them see you.Get many hours experience and know your cloud clearances for the airspace you are flying in before you fly near any clouds.
Pictures
 |
Paul and Loretta flying under the stratus layer of clouds hoping to find sunshine. |
|---|---|
 |
Ascending into the warm air layer and blue sky. Notice the opening bottom left where the sun first burnt a hole in the clouds. We see a "GLORY" ring in our shadow on the clouds. |
 |
Climbing to 10,000 feet to see Lake Tahoe. It's clear with no inversion. |
|
The big hole in the clouds later in the day as the sun had burns through the clouds and warming the surface. |
