Australia's benign weather
 

For all the heroes that keep saying Australia’s weather is benign...
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....cb15daa47b.png

Doesn't even need an alternate! :rolleyes: ;)

I see on the current ATIS it is 3000m RA.
I can’t see how many ml has fallen in last 10mins/ since 9am.
Does anyone have that info? I want to work out how many ml / hr 3000m Viz is.

Latest Capital City Observations Sydney Airport

Well, it was quite pleasant in Melbourne this weekend seeing the Stranglers...

There is a an old (1975) Texas Transportation study Rainfall and Visibility - The View from Behind the Wheel that is worth having look at, particularly Fig 9, page 25, although you will need to do some conversions to metric. Alternatively you could play around with the constant for I in equation 7 to give a direct metric value. The report does cover aviation and includes some values used.

In maggotdriver's post above in the TTF.

Thanks a lot I appreciate it.
Most definitions I can find on the net have ‘heavy rain’ defined as more than 7.6ml/hr
I note that YSSY had 13ml between 1:30 and 2:30 local today and the ATIS was saying RA and down to 2000m vis.
So that was heavy rain.
Shame that don’t put +RA on the ATIS seeing as many airline ops manuals have specific runway requirements for landing in heavy rain.
Especially with the friction notams on the shorter runway. W/S and crosswind.

Thanks Capt Fathom. ( I went straight to my company weather app which doesn’t show it.....should have read the post properly!)

Looks like a normal winters day in BIKF or BIRK except for the toasty warm temps...;)

Because I can't help being a pedant, and units can occasionally be important in aviation, rainfall is measured in mm not ml.
i.e. How deep would the water be if it did not drain away rather than the volume of water that fell.

13ml of rain is less than a tablespoon full, and would not wet very much at all.

Just one of my pet annoyances.

METAR
----------
EICK 090530Z 22035G46KT 2000 -RA OVC002 10/10 Q0982 TEMPO 1500

TAF
----------
TAF EICK 090500Z 0906/1006 21030G48KT 4000 -RA BKN005 TEMPO 0906/0909 1500 RA BKN002 BECMG 0907/0909 24033G58KT BECMG 0909/0911 9999 NSW FEW018 SCT030 TEMPO 0909/1003 5000 SHRA SCT010 SCT018CB BECMG 0912/0914 26030G48KT BECMG 0917/0919 26023G38KT TEMPO 1003/1006 7000 -SHRA SCT013 SCT018CB
Current weather here in Ireland as I speak.

ATIS includes rainfall in the last 10 minutes, 1.6 mm in the opening post. I guess you could deduce from the definition of heavy rain (that you found) that 1.6 in 10 mins fits the definition.

Cloud size (rainfall area), wind speed (and gust) and droplet size are other variables that will influence visibility.

That’s not the ATIS, that’s the TTF METAR. The ATIS does not include the rainfall

Bwahaha. Ok mate congratulations you had a bit of rain. It still is benign though.

A typical Wellington day!

The fact you think this is noteworthy is proof of just how benign the weather is in Australia.

Not that there aren’t challenges, but the weather is generally nice most of the time.

Now add freezing temps and mixed precipitation, ice, snow etc.

That weather is normal in a lot of the world and certainly wouldn’t warrant a special mention. Although with the effects of climate change in the weather then you may well see this more regularly.......... congratulations I guess?

True. You could always call up the AWIS for rainfall.

The problem in Sydney isn’t just the weather , its the hopelessly inadequate facilities. Once Sydney goes to single runway operations , as it did today, its game over. Holding goes off the scale. Plus the lack of alternates , plus the lack of Cat 3. Europeans operating here would be shocked at how a bit of weather can completely screw things up. I'll take European weather , and Europeans facilities, any day.

The problem in Sydney isn’t just the weather , its the hopelessly inadequate facilities. Once Sydney goes to single runway operations , as it did today, its game over. Holding goes off the scale. Plus the lack of alternates , plus the lack of Cat 3. Europeans operating here would be shocked at how a bit of weather can completely screw things up. I'll take European weather , and Europeans facilities, any day.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]

That is the heart of the matter concerning this post. While other parts of the world have much worse weather on a weekly basis, they don't have the third world facilities and the 'second best' ATC system that we have to deal with here, never mind the regs and the regulator!

I don't want to be labelled an apologist, but I just wanted to note to those that may be reading this that most ATC's would agree with you. There are huge limitations in our 'system' (not talking about the computer system, I mean the entire SHELL system as a whole) which cause these issues.

The actual controllers themselves work harder and more diligently than ever during these events.

Benign? Mostly.

I’ve lived and worked in a few regions around the world, and for all that is ‘bad’ about Oz - I still wouldn’t want to live and work anywhere else!

Great flying and awesome conditions. What’s not to love?

BlackPanther, no argument there. We who work in the system know that. I just hoped that after almost 40 years in the system , and approaching retirement, that it would show some indication of advancing. We seem to have these discussions at regular intervals but nothing changes.

What is Cat 3 going to achieve on a day of p!ssing rain, 30kt crosswinds and windshear?

Perhaps the Industry should've supported the installation of a wind shear alerting system for YSSY.

And the same day

TAF: EGLL 091134Z 0912/101821025G42KT 9999 BKN016 TEMPO 0912/0919 22032G53KT PROB40 TEMPO 0912/0915 4000 RA BKN012 PROB30 TEMPO 0912/0915 1200 +TSRAGS TEMPO 0915/1003 3000 +SHRA BKN014CB PROB30 TEMPO 0915/0919 24040G63KT 1200 +TSRAGS BECMG 0919/0922 24020G35KT PROB30 TEMPO 1003/1011 5000 SHRA BKN014 TEMPO 1010/1013 24015G25KT TEMPO 1011/1018 4000 SHRA BKN014CB

And in AKL today we are told that water supplies are low.

Perhaps YYT could send us a couple of feet of their snow?

Or that cyclone that is supposed to track down the east coast of Australia could come our way instead

Maggotdriver what is the purpose of this thread. For the most part Australia’s weather is benign but of course there will be days when it’s not.

Must be a slow news day.

excuse the thread drift
 

While in the M.E. in the mid 2000s I came across a Uni paper (Reading University, I think) that was reprinted in a CX Crews News mag I picked up in the crew room. It was primarily exploring the different accident rates around the world (at the time excluding Russia and African operators) and how crew interactions (CA / FO) may impact on safety outcomes. It noted that Australia had a lower accident rate than the rest.


It went on to discuss an "attitude check" on how crews from different countries rated their opposite number, by that, how supportive they're of the other crew member. The Brits surprisingly enough didn't rated each other highly, Australian crews in general showed the highest support of the other (!!). It went on to look at what impact this had on safety outcomes and in doing so pointed out Australia's relatively BENIGN wx and in doing so noted that wx as a contributing factor in accidents was 3% (this was surprising to me). I believe the quoted figure came from the NTSB.


I guess getting to where you're going comes down to a lot more than just the weather.

W/S all runways? I’ll take an alternate thanks..

It is a version of “mine is bigger than yours”.

I’m obviously happy to be the smallest bloke on deck. I’ll take our benign weather, and all that goes with being an Aussie based in Oz - happily just visiting all those other ‘hard’ places for a few nights at a time!!

:-)

Actually, it wasn’t. There’s often statements about Australia always having nice weather. Having flown through parts of Europe, Africa, Asia, North and South America I find they can all dish out nasty surprises ( ‘Merica wins). The rainfall rates and windshear yesterday were pretty impressive though. Just putting it out there for interest. East Coast low may also be on the way...

aUstRaLiA hAs SuCh beNigN wEATher.

I agree with the Sceptical Optimist. A thread like this tends to bring out the expats who give off a certain condescending tone about Australian weather and its benign nature. By default Australia is a sheltered workshop we all fly in and how god-like their abilities and skills are.

I’ve seen the same guys waxing lyrical about how easy the flying is weather wise here, only to bury it in a 10kt crosswind. Ok champ.

j3

Sadly, I’ve done that too!!! :-)

I think you are referring to this bloke Professor Graham Braithwaite FRAeS, FCILT, FISASI Director, Transport Systems Academic & Business Support who was doing his PhD. I think his paper was titled "Latitude or Attitude?" and he was looking into the question of why Australia's accident rate was so low.compared to the rest of the world. He did a lot of jump seat rides and part of his conclusion was the weather wasn't as big a factor as the crew dynamics.

Pussies
hows this if you want to quote storms in London.

CAIRNS (YBCS)
TAF YBCS 011031Z 0112/0212
15015G25KT 9999 LIGHT SHOWERS OF RAIN SCT025
FM011800 16025G35KT 9999 LIGHT SHOWERS OF RAIN BKN025
FM020200 16035G50KT 9999 LIGHT SHOWERS OF RAIN BKN025
FM020800 16050G70KT 6000 RAIN BKN015
FM021100 160100G140KT 2000 RAIN BKN010 OVC015
INTER 0112/0124 4000 SHOWERS OF RAIN BKN018
TEMPO 0200/0208 1000 RAIN BKN015
TEMPO 0208/0212 0500 HEAVY RAIN BKN005 OVC010
RMK
T 27 26 25 26 Q 1008 1007 1005 1005

Haha I’m reading all this in a Donald Trump voice: “we have the best weather. And when we have bad weather, we have the worst bad weather, better than every other country’s bad weather....”

Sounds like a sensible option to me.
Boeing says So if the ATIS is broadcasting ‘W/S on all runways, Taxiway B1 closed due flooding’
and some aircraft are going around ( as was the case), is that not confirmation of wind shear?
The show carries on and passengers get safely to their destination, until they don’t.
I don’t think anyone could fault you if you tootled off to your alternate.
I certainly wouldn’t have been landing on 16L with that wind/rain/ notam/flap combination.

You must understand that we have powerful weather. Very, very powerful! But there are those who would underestimate our powerful weather and talk it down. Sad!