BEX,
I wish we had more VFR and IFR pilots that exhibited your use of common sense when it comes to flying during marginal or IFR minimum weather conditions.
I don't care if the weather improved later, you made a good decision based upon your current flight conditions, your pilot abilities, and your comfort level, and forcasted weather, I say you did the right thing.
As a controller I often get to deal with the pilot who decides to run the scud and gets into trouble.
Here is a good example of why I applaud your decision.
Recently a local pilot here at FWA who owned a BE35 and was IFR rated crashed near FWA. The weather was barely above minimums, he missed at SMD (which is where his car was parked), missed on the ILS at FWA, declared that he was in trouble and needed to land right away, and then crashed (cause unknown) a few miles short of the airport. He lost his wife, daughter, and one son, and he received burns over 25% of his body.
Could this be a case where the weather at his departure airport was VFR, and IFR at his destination but forcasted to improve, so he decided to go ahead and make the flight? Could he had waited a few hours, or another day for the weather to actually improve (the weather cleared the next day)? Could he had diverted to another airport that was reporting better conditions?
These are questions that he will probably be asking himself for the rest of his life.
So if anyone pokes fun at you for turning around and landing, or diverting to someplace reporting better weather, then I say XXXX XX (you can fill in the X's), because you can always fly another day, but you can't replace your family!
As controllers, at the end of the day we get to go home, sit back and watch a football game, but you the pilot, well, enough said.
Mike R
NATCA FWA