WET WET WET reported on ATIS but RWY not wet?
Hi all,
I have a question concerning the announcement of a WET Runway on ATIS or by ATC while approaching UK airports.
Recently we had a flight into Northolt UK and the ATIS reported the Runway as WET WET WET. The weather was fine in the whole London Area with scattered clouds and sunshine. I understand that before our arrival they had rain showers.
Since the runway is quite short and commercial ops requires factorisation of LDR + wet factor the landing performance on the given day with the wet factor added was only legal by a few feet. After landing we noticed that the runway was almost dry again.
After hanging around for almost 5 hours we departed again. No rain for the rest of the day and a completely dry RWY.
ATIS reported WET WET WET again.
I would like to ask the following questions and would be happy to hear your opinions:
1) Is it legal to "assume" a certain runway condition as dry or damp if you are sure - even if the reported RWY condition is WET?
2) Is there any particular reason why UK ATC reports RWY as WET even with light rain and/or no visible rain around the airport. Never heard that in the rest of Europe unless there was heavy rain or reports of poor braking action or contamination.
Cheers!