Heard on the air

[Jon Woellhaf]

On the way home from Salt Lake City, Utah (KSLC) to Denver Colorado Jeffco
(KBJC) on 26 Jan 2005 at about 1338 MST while in the vicinity of Evanston,
Wyoming, we heard the following:

Salt Lake Center: Attention all aircraft. Hazardous weather information in
the form of airmets for the northwest mountain region available through
flight watch or flight service.

Unidentified: What's that for? Is it mountain wave or convective?

Salt Lake Center: IFR conditions for Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Colorado,
California. Mountain obscuration for Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona,
New Mexico, Washington, Oregon, and California. Turbulence for Idaho,
Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico. Icing for Idaho,
Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Washington, Oregon,
California, and coastal waters.

<two second pause>

Unidentified: Well, that really narrows it down, doesn't it?

We laughed for about five minutes. Probably everyone else who heard it did
too.

Needless to say, we encountered no IFR, mountain obscuration, turbulence, or
icing for the remainder of the trip. Okay, that's not completely true. We
did encounter two seconds of IMC when we flew through a cloud top.

Jon

[Robert M. Gary]

About 6 months ago I took off in the face of a sigmet for turb. There
was no weather to make me think there would be turb and I had enough
outs that I just went. As I taxied out I was "rewarned" about the
sigment by ground, tower, approach, center, approach, tower, etc. That
was probably the smoothest flight I can remember. I put in a PIREP for
smooth air and by the time I got home the sigmet was canceled. :)
-Robert