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INTRODUCTION TO METEOROLOGY
Objective: - To give a brief introduction to the science of meteorology.

Desired Learning Outcomes:-

1. Understand the origin of Met

2. Assess the cycle of seasons throughout the year
3. Evaluate the practical importance of Met for a pilot

1. Introduction. Man has always been influenced by the surrounding

environment especially by the conditions of the surrounding atmosphere. Heat, cold,
rain and humidity etc. affect everybody, but in aviation we are more concerned about
weather as it affects our operations. In the ancient times weather was a mystery but
the advancement of knowledge proved that weather phenomena can be explained,
utilizing basic laws of physics. The aim of this book is to present weather in a basic
form so that a pilot is able to understand it without getting into complicated details.

2. Meteorology. Meteorology comes from a Greek word "Meteor" which

means things seen in the air and is used for all the phenomena occurring in the
atmosphere. Since weather is also something seen in the air so the science dealing
with weather was named as Meteorology. Meteorology is a branch of physics that
deals with analysis of present weather and assessment of future conditions. The
earliest records of meteorology are found in books of Aristotle and over the years it
has developed into an independent science with many branches.

3. Weather. The sum of all the atmospheric conditions i.e. temperature,

pressure, humidity, wind, cloud and precipitation at a given place and time is called
weather.

4. Climate. The trend of weather at a particular place throughout the year is

called climate, or in other words climate represents the synthesis of various
elements of weather.

Seasons

5. It is a common observation that, weather at a particular place is not the same

throughout the year and cycles among four seasons. Before studying the reasons
for variation in seasons it is vital to revise the following facts:-

(a) The axis of earth's rotation is tilted 23.5 degrees to the vertical that it
maintains while traveling around the sun. (Fig 1.1)

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Fig 1.1

(b) The earth revolves around the sun in an elliptical orbit. The eccentricity
of this ellipse is very close to zero, which means that it is very close to a
circle.

(c) The sun is biased towards one of the foci, which means that the
minimum distance between earth and sun is on the 1st of January.

6. The difference in distance is not the reason for change in seasons. The basic
reason is the tilt in earth's axis. In June, the Northern Hemisphere is towards the
sun, thus it receives solar radiation at a higher angle and for a longer duration. Both
of these contribute towards more heating, so the Northern Hemisphere has
summers. At the same time the Southern Hemisphere is away from the sun so it
receives radiation at a lower angle and shorter duration resulting in winter. The
situation reverses in December. In this cycle the solar radiation is perpendicular to
earth surface between 23.5 deg. North and 23.5 deg. South, so the region between
these two latitudes is called the tropics. The latitudes beyond 66.5 deg. North and
South, do not receive sunlight for six months so they are called the Polar Regions.
The region between 23.5 and 66.5 deg is known as the Temperate Region in both
hemispheres. (Fig 1.2)

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Fig 1.2

Meteorological Services

7. Two types of meteorological information are available to aircrew:-

(a) Weather Report. This gives precise detail of the conditions which
have already occurred at a given place and time.

(b) Weather Forecast. This is the detail of conditions that are expected
to occur over a given place, area or route during a given period of time.

Practical Value of Met

8. The information and knowledge of meteorology is important to aircrew for the

reasons listed below:-

(a) Avoidance of hazards e.g. icing, thunder, turbulence, poor visibility etc.

(b) Using natural phenomena to advantage e.g. strong wind, jet streams.

(c) Flight plans often change at short notice and revised weather forecasts
may not be readily available.

(d) In case of limited or inaccurate weather forecasts, in-flight observations

can be helpful.

(e) Observations made from the air and passed to ground become more
valuable if the observer has sound knowledge of meteorology.

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GENERAL WEATHERS

WEATHER VISIBILITY CLOUDS RH REMARKS

FINE 10 NIL
FAIR 10 < 4 OKTA
CLOUDY 10 4 OKTA OR
MORE
FOG <1 KM >95%
MIST >1<4KMS >75<95%
HAZE >4<10KMS <75%
DRW (when loose dust is raised by the wind and it reduces visibility)
DIS (when fine loose dust particles get suspended in the air and reduce
visibility all around)
RAIN (when the diameter of water droplet is >0.5mm or 0.02 inch or more)
DRIZZLE (when the diameter of droplet is <0.5mm)
SNOW (when flakes of snow start to fall)
SLEET (when snow and rain is mixed)
LIGHTING (when only lighting is observed but no thunder is heard. Normally CB
cell is not in close vicinity of the station)
TS (only thunder is heard but without rain)
TSRA (thunderstorm with rain)
DS (Vis <1km and wind 28kts or more)
DSTSRA (dust storm with thunder storm followed by rain)
HAIL STORM (in TSRA when hail stones starts to fall)

Questions for Study & Discussion

DLO 1

 What is met?
 What is the origin of Met?
 What is the difference between weather & climate?

DLO 2

 How would you explain variations in the cycle of seasons?

DLO 3

 What are various met services available to a pilot?

 How does Met practically help a pilot in his operations?
 What are the various types of general weathers reported by Met Department?

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