Weather (WX).

The weather system that's built into EasyVFR 4 is designed to provide you with the optimal weather information and a minimum of hassle. The weather can be downloaded as often as you like at no extra charge and can be displayed on the Moving Map, used in flight planning, and to provide you with detailed weather briefings for either a single location or your entire planned route.

Weather System.

Weather data can be downloaded using menu->downloads menu, also the current "age" of the weather data can be verified there.

- WX on the Moving Map.

Having the weather displayed on the Moving Map is very convenient in-flight. Is that puff of clouds you see outside perhaps the prelude of something nastier? When you switch to the Weather map preset  EasyVFR 4 will switch to a map display showing all relevant weather information. Using the Weather TimeStepper you can  set the date and time of the weather symbols you'd like to see on the map. You can move forward as far as 48 hours in the future to view development. 

The METAR TAF button toggles the display of the colored circles around airports. A solid circle means the information is based on a METAR (tip: solid line = solid info), a dotted circle means it's taken from a TAF. By default, the color code is computed based on visibility and cloud base according to the NATO standard:

 

Color Visibility and/or Cloud base
  Blue 8 km or more 2500' or higher
  White 5 to 8 km 1500' to 2500'
  Green 3.7 to 5 km 700' to 1500'
  Yellow 1.6 to 3.7 km 300' to 700'
  Amber 0.8 to 1.6 km 200' to 300'
  Red 800 m or less 200' or lower


However, via the Colour Coding control you can also select GAFOR:

 

Color Visibility and/or Cloud base
  Blue (Clear) 10 km or more 5000' or higher
  Green (Open) 8 to 10 km 2000' to 5000'
  Yellow (Difficult) 5 to 8 km 1000' to 2000'
  Amber (Marginal) 1.5 to 5 km 500' to 1000'
  Red (X - Closed) 1.5 km or less 500' or lower


and OrbiFly coding:

 

Color Visibility and/or Cloud base
  Green (VFR) 8 km or more 3000' or higher
  Blue (Marginal VFR) 5 to 8 km 1000' to 3000'
  Amber (IFR) 1.5 to 5 km 500' to 1000'
  Pink (Intense IFR) 800 to 1500 m 200' to 500'
  Red (Full IFR) 800 m or less 200' or lower

 

Since yellow, amber and red (or amber, pink and yellow with OrbiFly) are generally considered not to be VFR conditions, you can see at a glance whether or not an airport's weather is suitable.

Weather symbols.

The symbols used by EasyVFR to display weather information on the map are mostly standard and internationally used symbols; however, the cloud base symbols are not. Below is an overview of all symbols used.

- Wind symbols.

EasyVFR uses the conventional wind barb symbols to display the winds at altitude. A wind barb consists of a pole and a flag, whereby the pole indicates the wind direction and the flag gives the wind speed.

 

  Symbol Meaning
  Wind from any direction, 1-2 KTS.
  W/V 0/5 Wind from the North, 5 KTS.
  W/V 0/10 Wind from the North, 10 KTS.
  W/V 0/15 Wind from the North, 15 KTS.
  W/V 0/50 Wind from the North, 50 KTS.
  W/V 0/100 Wind from the North, 100 KTS.

 

 

- Cloud base symbols.

The Cloud base symbols are not internationally defined. EasyVFR uses the following:

 

Symbol Meaning
  Cloud base. Cloud base  is 500' or less above the general terrain elevation in the vicinity of this symbol .
  Cloud base. Cloud base is between 500' and 1000' above the general terrain elevation in the vicinity of this symbol .
  Cloud base. Cloud base is between 1000' and 2000' above the general terrain elevation in the vicinity of this symbol .

 

- SIGMET symbols.

These internationally used symbols for SIGnificant METeorological information are used by EasyVFR:

  Symbol Meaning
  BR (Mist)
  FG (Fog)
  -DZ (Continuous drizzle)
  -RA (Continuous light rain)
  RA (Moderate rain)
  +RA (Heavy rain)
  -FZRA (Light freezing rain)
  FZRA/+FZRA (Moderate freezing rain)
  -RASN (Light rain or drizzle and snow)
  RASN (Moderate or heavy rain or drizzle and snow)
  -SN (Light snow)
  SN (Moderate snow)
  +SN (Heavy snow)
  -SHRA (Rain shower)
  SHRA (Moderate or heavy rain shower)
  +SHRA (Violent rain shower)
  -SHRA SN (Slight shower of rain and snow mixed)
  SHRA SN (Shower of rain and snow mixed, moderate or heavy)
  -SHSN (Light snow shower)
  SHSN / +SHSN (Moderate snow shower)
  TSRA (Thunderstorm with precipitation)
  TSGR (Slight or moderate thunderstorm with hail)
  +TSGR (Heavy thunderstorm with hail)
  CU (Cumulus with little vertical development)
  CU (Cumulus with considerable vertical size)
  CB (Cumulonimbus, non-anvil shaped)
  CB (Cumulonimbus, anvil-shaped)