I had a flight today to the Atlanta area and back. I had thought looking at the forecasts it might be pretty easy with only scattered showers. I was really wrong. I woke up this morning to a line of storms forming across southern Georgia. I thought they might dissapte by the time we left but they defied predictions and intensified.
I was not too concerned as there were gaps and the Eastern edge was not a big detour. We departed in clear skies and were soon cruiding along and sizing up the line. Things were changing pretty rapidly but most planes were sliding through over Hazelhurst, GA. This was good for us as that was our direct course so we just cruised on up and and worked between one small cell to our left and some light rain to our right.
We were through pretty quickly and in person these were not very impressive storms. Not that I wanted to fly in them but they were not very tall nor big.
Our arrival into KPDK was a bit different than past trips. I filed the WRGNZ3 arrival with the WRGNZ transition. ATC let me fly it!! In the past, just as we have gotten to WRGZN, they put me on vectors. The other difference was that we had traffic ahead which required us to swing a bit North of the field and join final at around 3 miles. It all worked and we soon touched down on 21L and taxied to the FBO. We were there to visit our daughter and drop some stuff off. After unloading and checking in we were picked up and headed off for food and visiting.
I looked at the storms and after we passed they started to fall apart. I thought that was a good sign but around 1:30 I looked at the flight home and stuff was bubbling up everywhere. We watched it for about and hour and then headed to the airport. It was unclear what it would do but we figured we could at least get to Southern Georgia.
Our departure was easy but bumpy. Heading up it was really hazy and the haze had not gotten better so while technically VFR, I was keeeping an eye on the instruments too. Atlanta approach sent us East and climbed us to 9000 before sending us on our way.
The line of storms was blocking our return and we started making plans. I initially asked for and was given direct Taylors VOR as there was a good size gap. By the time we got closer the gap was shrinking and my vertical profile of the storm was showing tops at at least 40,000. Even with a clear gap I could see through, did not want to mess with potential hail.
We made the decision to invest 15 minutes of extra flying to be safer. We updated our request to Valdosta and ATC was very accomodating. This let us round the end of the line and stay upwind of the storms.
Behind the line of storms the XM radar was showing lots of light rain. Onboard radar showed just a little. We slid around the line and then just had light sprinkles as we worked our way home. The onboard radar gave us some good clues as to what deviations to request as it was hard to differentiate between haze and rain.
My last concern was whether we would have a storm at home. That was the only weather forecast that held up. There had been some sprinkles ealier but we arrived to high overcast and blue skies and soon had the plane away. The detours and unfavorable winds added about 20 minutes extra but was well worth it to avoid the weather. In the end it took a few extra minutes but we did go to Atlanta, spend 4.5 hours and get home in 9 hours total so the few extra minutes were not a big deal.
