ATC weather information
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ATC weather information
Does anyone know of any country outside the US where ATC provides pilots with weather/thunderstorm advisories and proactively assists pilots to avoid convective activity?
Join Date: Jan 2006
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In Scandinavia ATC frequently asks you to confirm you're in receipt of "SIGMET XX". Completely useless. Nothing proactive in it at all. A total cover-your-ass exercise. How many 737 do you see cancel their flight for severe turbulence between SFC and FL70. Or severe icing in Clouds? And none of it turns out to be anywhere near severe at the end anyway.
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Well, it's a few years since I was operational, but in the UK it was just part of the job. Trouble is, these days that many radars are SSR only so there is no chance for the controller to see the wx. Some places have lightning strike data overlaid - never used it myself but I guess it gives a general idea where the wx is although I've heard that by the time it gets displayed to the controller it is often a few minutes old.
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for Gonzo!For a slightly more serious answer, as it appears that no-one else is going to - in my experience, ATC offers advice about where weather returns are strongest and the crew combine this with what the wx radar shows and between them agree which way the aircraft will go.
My own personal thoughts based on working with largely unprocessed radar pictures in an terminal/approach environment. Controllers of my vintage and experience certainly knew of the limitations of the information that the radar picture offered - it was primarily showing rain and obviously could not show turbulence or lightning. Additionally, depending on the type/wavelength of the radar being used, the picture was affected by the size of the water droplets in the atmosphere. For a short period, I had two radar systems available (one a replacement being commissioned) with very different characteristics which I imagine could provide a controller with additional useful information given a bit of experience in heavy weather. I would note that the place I was working whilst it 'ticked over' was not routinely a high traffic density environment which meant that controllers had the time to offer advice and to use increased separation which allowed aircraft to deviate without much risk of losing separation.
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Switzerland also does a reasonable job of getting you round the worst weather... however, I can't think of any European ATC that would give information regarding the storm's intensity (VIP levels etc) in the same detail that I read you get in the States. By the way Seagull, are you the same Seagull that is to be seen extolling the virtues of Dave Gwinn's (RIP) excellent weather radar advice on a thread on another website? Just curious.
