9.2 Weather Hazards

One of the most problematic topics in aviation today are weather hazards. The reason why this topic is so troublesome is because there are so many different types of weather hazards that take place. These include:

  • Wind Shear
  • Icing
  • Thunderstorms
  • Wake Turbulence
  • Imc
  • Microbursts
The weather hazard that poses the most threat that I will be discussing in this blog is a thunderstorm. Thunderstorms are produced through a process called convection (NOAA, 2011). This is the process which relates to the atmospheric motions in a vertical direction. The atmosphere is heated unevenly which can trigger an imbalance (NOAA, 2011). There are three things that are needed in order for the process of convection to occur: moisture, lift, and instability.


In order to form clouds a sufficient amount of moisture must be present (NOAA,2011). As the warm air rises, it starts to cool, which then starts to evaporate the water. There are several ways in which air is lifted. One method is a mechanical lift, when the air is forced up and over a mountain range. Other methods include low pressure systems and interactions between jet streams (NOAA, 2011). Finally, instability is the measurement in which how fast air cools.  



The hazards that come with thunderstorms is lightning, turbulence, wind shear, and icing. Lightning will usually hit a protruding part of the plane such as the nose or the tip of the wing. After the first strike it will travel through the body of the plane traveling through the path of least resistance. When traveling through thunderstorms pilots have reported that up and down drafts can occur exceeding 6,000 feet per minute (NOAA, 2011). Thunderstorms can cause a massive change in wind speed and direction which causes wind shear (NOAA, 2011). Because thunderstorms are driven by the process of convection, where water is converted to ice, icing is possible in all thunderstorms (NOAA, 2011). 


References

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). (2011). Thunderstorm Formation and                 Aviation Hazards. Retrieved on March 7, 2022, from 11jul-front.pdf (weather.gov)

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