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Monday, May 11, 2009

There went the Weekend!

Just a quick recap on the flights down to the DC area back on Friday, and back up to Connecticut this morning.

Although the forecast for KDCA on Friday afternoon suggested that some thundershowers might be in the area, none materialized. There was some convective activity in eastern PA but my route avoided it with no need for deviations. So in the end, the southbound flight proved uneventful.

Looking at the forecasts of last evening for weather and freezing levels in the DC/MD area it would be easy to expect no significant weather for an 0800 local time departure with temperatures above zero degrees C up to 9,000 feet of so. Not the way it turned out.

At departure there was fairly enthusiastic rain, but with good VFR conditions (with the KDCA METAR giving 9SM visibility and 6,500 broken ceiling). So I departed VFR with a turn to the south. Potomac Approach picked me up right away and cleared me up to 7,000 feet (my filed altitude) and turned me to the east.

At about 6,000 feet the rain turned to snow and at 7,000 feet the OAT was 1 degree. Maybe so, but I was picking up rime on the struts, so I asked ATC for 5,000 which they approved quickly.

The interesting weather lasted until Dover, DE and the remainder of the northbound flight was routine.

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