We just got back…no problems landing in SLC or leaving to come home today. Thanks,

Zvia

Again, I’m late to give you advice but SLC is a great place even with snow. They are in the mountains so the moisture is generally limited and a 3-4 inch snowfall is common with cold front and upper storms there. And SLC can usually handle snow with little problem since they have a car-wash type de-icing system and lots of experience.

The only exception is when the air is very cold (-10C at 700mb/10,000ft) and the wind direction is off the Great Salt Lake. Then you get into a lake effect snow and could get up to 8 inches of snow.

But a wind of 13mph would be no problem to land in. Even if it’s blowing across the runway. I don’t know the crosswind limits for SLC but since it is in a valley and oriented in a unique direction the wind usually blow from the NNW or the SSE and that’s the way the runways are lined up.

I hope you enjoyed your vacation.

Michael

Have a happy Winter Solstice tonight.

Michael

I met a couple of those guys. I think they work at Patrick Air Force Base. At least, they can look outside and see what the sky looks like.

It is a big gut call when you are calling a situation that will affect thousands of passengers and cost the company millions. If ATL forecast is for frozen precipitation, then the company will cancel hundreds of flights because it would be impossible to de-ice the entire operation. But ATL is always on the border with temperatures close to freezing or the precip ends before the temps drop or the dewpoint is dropping so how low will the wet bulb temperature go. It can be a killer.

Several years ago, we forecast about an inch of snow in the morning with cold air coming in from the northeast and an upper system coming in from the west with moisture. Well, we had the timing right but the moisture from the west met the cold/dry air from the northeast and the snow ended about 30 miles west of ATL. Workers driving in from the western suburbs had cars with a couple of inches of snow on their cars. We had cancelled hundreds of flights and all we got were mid level clouds.

Well, the vice president kept asking when the snow would get here and we kept saying about two hours. He was a little concerned. But it never did snow that day and we had a big bust. But that’s the way it goes in this business.

Later in the year, we can talk about TSTM busts.

Michael

Open house sometimes with the local chapter of AMS. Stephie, our boss, is this year’s president.

All positions are full time. Try the Weather Channel. They used to have part-time positions.

Michael

I used to work at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB. The most never wracking weather forecasting I ever heard was from Kennedy Space Center and the Spaceflight Meterological Group waiting to give a go or no-go for a Space Shuttle landing there. It can be so fickle. You would listen on the loops and hear, “Weather this is Flight. What’s your call?” It is always a multi-million dollar question if they have to stay up in space or come out to California. You could almost hear that guy sweat sometimes. Of course we in California always wanted bad weather in Florida so we could get a landing. It is almost always sunny at Edwards.

Thanks for all you do for Delta to keep flying! Great article!

DeltaMD-90Flyer

Just a note to thank you for fantastic insight to your position at DL. Besides a mechanical on the plane, I cant think of any other headache for the traveling public which is delays due to the Wx. Keep the good stuff coming.