French Weather Info

[misterbonkers]

Hi all,

Flying a machine from UK to Barcelona Tue/Wed/Thu next week.

Does anyone know of any decent websites for French weather information? Is there an equivalent of the UK metoffice mesoscale chart for France?

My planned route is to take me down past Toulouse, Carcassonne, Perpignan and down the coast to Sabadelle.

Any info greatly appreciated!

[Savoia]

Add this to your list of online resources:

France aviation weather and weather forecasts (http://www.pilotfriend.com/av_weather/eurocasts/fran_aviation_weather.htm)

[HeliComparator]

"Official" French Flt planning / met / notams from

OLIVIA (http://olivia.aviation-civile.gouv.fr/index.php?lang=en&ref=olivia)

You just need to create a login identity

It's good for flight plans - you file the plan then after a while it tells you it has (hopefully) been accepted, with a ref code. Useful for when you arrive at your destination and they accuse you of not having filed one!

Tip for VFR RT - always give your point of departure and destination (and use ICAO code to avoid pronunciation embarrassments!) otherwise they will ask you for it every time.

In my view, French en-route ATC helpfulness / assistance is far better than in UK - and they don't make a meal out of it! There is none of the BS ATSOCAS so don't ask for basic, traffic, deconfliction etc, they don't exist except in the minds of the UK CAA!

ps watch out for nuclear power stations if you don't want to get shot down!

[Hyds Out]

Avbrief is also a good site, need to register but free to join.
Allmetsat is also a good site, no registration, with wide selection of forecasts and frequent sat pics, lightning strikes etc.
Also worth looking at the French civil aviation website. Just google "sia civilie" and you'll find it. Has a very good notam part that covers Europe, and the world I think. Also has the AZBA charts which shows graphically which of the Very Low Altitude military jet corridors are active. Much easier than trying to find them on the VFR charts.

[firebird_uk]

Orbifly's MetMap is always useful. Link (http://www.orbifly.com/member/metmap.php?region_choose=FRA&mode=metar&lang=ENG&view_color=metars)

[misterbonkers]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all the useful websites! All very good. Based on the weather info deduced we elected not to go which is a shame!

Toulouse giving sunshine but lots of fog forecast and prevalent due to the High.

Cheers chaps!

[Hyds Out]

Good call. When the fog sets in, it certainly makes it a challenge getting through France. Especially with the low temperatures. Saying that, Flying in the Alps yesterday, and it was lovely. As long as you didn't need to go lower than 4000ft amsl, as it was a blanket of cotton. 12 deg C above and see for ever though.

Enjoy it when you do get a chance.