We get a fair number of questions about the forecast dotted blue freezing level line you’ll find on the Route Profile or Meteogram views in WeatherSpork. When there’s only a single freezing level (more accurately, the melting level) forecast, you’ll see just a single dotted line as is depicted in the image below. This...
Category: Weather
July 2018 SporkNews
If you are new to WeatherSpork, welcome to the family! This e-Newsletter will be sent out at the beginning of each month to keep you updated on the new features and content provided by WeatherSpork. We hope the app has made finding the most opportune time to depart a simple and easy process. The month...
Using WeatherSpork to find that perfect time to depart
It’s the mid afternoon on Friday and you are planning to depart Bentonville, Arkansas (KVBT) sometime tomorrow (Saturday) headed to Panama City, Florida (KECP) to spend a week at the beach. You have the flexibility to leave anytime tomorrow, but most importantly, you want to minimize your exposure to adverse weather. Watch the 30...
Expanded airport database, METARs and more with WeatherSpork release 4.4.0
WeatherSpork release 4.4.0 is now available in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store! Here are some of the new features and enhancements you’ll find in this release. Keep those referrals going! First, thanks a bunch to those Sporkies that are spreading the word about the WeatherSpork app to their fellow pilots. We’ve...
WeatherSpork’s station list has expanded plus METARs!
With the release of WeatherSpork version 4.4.0, you can enter any public-use airport as a waypoint on the route. That includes your departure and destination airports. Be sure to use the four-character ICAO identifier. For example, if you are departing out of Wilgrove Air Park in Charlotte, North Carolina (8A6), be sure to include...
Major upgrade next year to the Global Forecast System (GFS)
NOAA/NWS selected the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) finite volume cubed-sphere (FV3) dynamical core as the NWS Next Generation Global Prediction System (NGGPS). The current operational GFS, which has a spectral dynamical core, will be replaced by the proposed GFS with FV3 dynamical core and improved physics parameterizations in the second quarter of Fiscal Year...
Spork meets Droid, Android, that is!
We are excited to let you know that we’ve just released our new app to Google Play for those that use an Android device. With very few exceptions, the WeatherSpork app will have the same look and feel and has all the same features as our popular iOS and web-based versions of WeatherSpork. So...
Newest enhancements to WeatherSpork – version 4.3.0
WeatherSpork just got even better! WeatherSpork version 4.3.0 is now available in the App Store. In addition to a few bug fixes, we are excited to tell you that we raised the roof of WeatherSpork to FL450. You’ll now enjoy in the Route Profile view a depiction of clouds, wind and en route advisories...
Just raised the roof on WeatherSpork!
With WeatherSpork version 4.3.0, you now have the option of selecting FL450 as the upper limit on the clouds and weather display. The upper limit on earlier releases was restricted FL200. This will allow you to see winds (speed and direction) as well as clouds and advisories (G-AIRMETs and SIGMETs) that extend higher in...
Cross track distance from fly-by waypoints
When you’ve defined a proposed route in WeatherSpork you may notice that it picks a number of “proximity” fly-by stations (airports) to include along that route. These show up on the Map view as rounded square icons like those shown below. But how far is KMSV off of your great circle route from KBOS...
New static Imagery from the HREF model
With WeatherSpork version 4.3.0, we’ve extended the static Imagery to include aviation forecasts from the High Resolution Ensemble Forecast (HREF) model. The HREF is updated four times a day and provides a forecast lead time of 36 hours at one hour time increments. In WeatherSpork you can find these in the Imagery view right...
Thunderstorm planning with WeatherSpork, Part 3
Part 1 and Part 2 of this three video series showed a window of opportunity to depart Savannah, Georgia during the morning hours between 14Z and 15Z arriving in Charlotte, North Carolina before 17Z. Was this guidance on the money? Watch Part 3 of this video series to see how it all played out. And...
Thunderstorm planning with WeatherSpork, Part 2
Part 1 of this series of three videos focused on how to use WeatherSpork to find the best time of departure for a trip the following day given a threat of thunderstorms along the proposed route. Part 2 of this series takes place on the morning of this flight. Watch this 20 minute video...
Thunderstorms a threat? Use WeatherSpork to plan your departure, Part 1
It’s that time of the year again. Snow is finally beginning to melt in the northern tier of states and temps in the deep south are topping 90 degrees on a regular basis. Moreover, G-AIRMETs for for airframe ice begin to morph into convective SIGMETs. WeatherSpork is your best tool to find that perfect...
A shortcut from the Route Profile to Airports view
In WeatherSpork we will be adding a number of shortcuts to cut down on the number of clicks or taps needed to navigate to other important guidance within the app. Here’s a video that demonstrates one such shortcut to get to the Airports view for a specific station identified as a fly-by airport in...