Thin Scattered

Matthew

We went flying today. Hurricane Matthew is still in the Caribbean Sea trying to figure out where it will unleash it's mayhem.  The first cold front of the season weakened into some broken troughs and lingered to the east letting unstable moist gulf air into the Tampa Bay area. The result was a thin scattered layer at about 800', with building cumulous over the central areas of the state. It looked like if we went before noon the weather would be skuddy but doable.  By 10:00am the fog had lifted and visibility was close to 10 miles, so we went flying.

Thin Scattered

The scattered layer was less than 100' thick and easy to fly around. As we climbed to 1500' we got a better view of the cloud build up to the east. I didn't need XM Weather to show me not to go there. We turned further south and got close to the menacing cell towers that pop above 1500' and have been the source of a few nightmares. My initial mission was to over fly the sink hole near Mulberry which is just south of Plant City. The large clouds near Lakeland changed my mind. So I changed my mind and decided to fly down Lithia-Pinecrest Road  to see where it goes. As I traveled southeast I noticed the scattered layer was getting thicker. Time to go home.

Sally had performed well. No low pressure indications, no annunciator lights, all systems normal. As we entered the 45 for RWY23 I was glad we had returned early. The thin layer had gotten thicker and was already starting to fill in. We were forced to fly the pattern a bit lower than normal. It would not be a good day for VFR pilots trying to fly later in the day.

Video Notes: Thin Scattered