Find the weather office and check the current conditions and the weather forecast at home and at your destination.
This article continues the series "Flying Basics", written for first-time fliers and others who are wondering about commercial flights, even if it is not their first time flying. If you have a fear of flying, reading enough to understand what to expect may help. The series includes:
- Flying Basics - An Overview
- Flying Basics - Airport Security
- Flying Basics - Booking
- Flying Basics - Seat selection
- Flying Basics - Packing
- Flying Basics - Weather Matters
- Flying Basics - Packing for Events.
To begin with, the basic example used for Flying Basics is a domestic flight of about four hours, where there are no stopovers, no border crossings, and the flight is on a regularly scheduled route with one of the major airlines, not a discount or no-frills carrier.
Other articles in this series will look closely at special needs and some of the things which arise when your flight is not exactly like the basic example.
Weather
The weather affects many things about your vacation, including
- what to pack in your carry-on luggage
- what to pack in your checked luggage
- what to wear for the trip on the plane
- when to leave your home to get to the airport
- whether your plane is likely to depart on time
- whether your plane is likely to arrive on time
- what the plane ride will be like
- what you may need to purchase or rent while you are away.
But, we can't control the weather! So, we have to adapt to it.
How to find an accurate weather report
There are two basic kinds of weather report: the current conditions and the forecast. As we all know, weather forecasts are not always accurate, and they tend to get less accurate the farther you go into the future.
The government weather office is the first one to turn to. In the US, this is the National Weather Service, where you can find beautiful coloured maps (and a text version). Some of the things shown:
- current conditions for any region you select
- forecast for the upcoming week
- weather warnings and advisories
and more.
The government weather offices for other countries include:
- Canada - Environment CanadaThis website also includes historic averages for the main climatic variables, such as high and low temperatures, month by month, for a long list of places in Canada.
- UK (Britain) - Met OfficeThe Met (short for meteorological) Office has forecasts for the UK, Europe and the world. If you know the postcode of a place, you can obtain a weather forecast for that specific place, but if not, you can look up forecasts by region and by town or city names.
- Using this list of all the National Weather Services belonging to the WMO - World Meteorological Organization, you can find a link to almost all the weather in the world! There are many good ones; for example, Belgium's is an easy-to-use mouse over map.
The national weather offices often show international weather information, not just the weather for their own country.
If you have no luck with the government weather office, you can do an internet search for private services. The quality of these varies. Some are very good, and most rely upon government data, so for current conditions, they should be as accurate as the government is. The quality of their forecasts might differ, though.
Next in this series: Flying Basics - Weather Matters.
