PM: Sorry, I didn't mean to suggest that you'd use lightning as an indicator - it was more of a general observation.
Regarding weather radar: You are obviously using it correctly, but many - especially those coming to flying now - don't seem so proficient with it. I've encountered quite a few who don't realise that ice (cloud tops) won't show up and also a lot who don't understand how to manually manipulate it; they just leave it on auto the entire time.
It becomes very difficult to avoid the bad weather if one doesn't even know it's there.
