Santa Rosa to Seattle in September, no ice

I'm considering flying from the Bay Area to Seattle WA next September (I'm not based out there) and was wondering what kind of flight conditions I could expect. I'd be in a piston single (probably an aging Cutlass). I am IFR capable, but flying in
ice would be something I'd avoid.

Jose

"Jose" wrote in message
m...
I'm considering flying from the Bay Area to Seattle WA next September (I'm
not based out there) and was wondering what kind of flight conditions I
could expect. I'd be in a piston single (probably an aging Cutlass). I
am IFR capable, but flying in ice would be something I'd avoid.

In September, you have pretty good odds (maybe 50/50) of having perfectly
nice clear weather the whole way (other than coastal and valley fog in the
occasional spot). That time of year, freezing levels will most likely still
be well above MEAs, though of course you can never predict for sure.

We flew Seattle (Everett, actually) to Oakland and back last year the last
week of September and won the "perfectly nice clear weather" lottery. Made
an instrument departure from Oakland on the way back to get through a very
thin fog layer (not even 200' thick), and then an easy instrument approach
into Eugene, OR because their fog hadn't quite cleared (though it had lifted
significantly, providing ceilings higher than 1000', if I recall).
Otherwise, the weather for that trip was CAVU.

So, basically...icing is not likely to be a problem and beyond that, in
September you could potentially experience a wide variety of conditions, but
most likely nothing terribly challenging.

Of course, now that I write that, I recall another September weekend several
years ago trying to get back to the Seattle area from Newport, OR in which
we had very high winds (30-40 knots) and isolated thunderstorms. Waiting a
day allowed us to get back home, but the flight back still wasn't all that
pleasant.

But that was definitely a highly atypical bit of weather. Most of the time,
it's quite benign.

Pete

WIth the usual exception of September being the poster month for forest fires,
which reduce flight visibility significantly. However, I concur that September
is probably the best choice of the dozen for flight conditions, with June being
a close second.

Jim


"Peter Duniho"
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:

-"Jose" wrote in message
om...
- I'm considering flying from the Bay Area to Seattle WA


-
-But that was definitely a highly atypical bit of weather. Most of the time,
-it's quite benign.
-
-Pete
-

Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

I did the trip the other way Redmond, Medford, Arcata to Santa Rosa 19/20th
September this year and we had ice at 12000 ft between Redmond and Medford
and out of Medford for a while.

Chris

"Jim Weir" wrote in message
...
WIth the usual exception of September being the poster month for forest
fires,
which reduce flight visibility significantly. However, I concur that
September
is probably the best choice of the dozen for flight conditions, with June
being
a close second.

Jim


"Peter Duniho"
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:

-"Jose" wrote in message
om...
- I'm considering flying from the Bay Area to Seattle WA


-
-But that was definitely a highly atypical bit of weather. Most of the
time,
-it's quite benign.
-
-Pete
-

Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

"Chris" wrote in message
...
I did the trip the other way Redmond, Medford, Arcata to Santa Rosa 19/20th
September this year and we had ice at 12000 ft between Redmond and Medford
and out of Medford for a while.

Yup, above the MEAs, even over the Siskiyous if I recall correctly.

"Peter Duniho" wrote in message
...
[...]
We flew Seattle (Everett, actually) to Oakland and back last year the last
week of September and won the "perfectly nice clear weather" lottery.

Minor correction:

That CAVU trip was two years ago, not one. For some reason, the time is
passing me by even more quickly the last year or so.

Anyway, it's a good month most years, regardless. I doubt my mistake
confused anyone, but my apologies if it did.

On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 22:18:38 GMT, Jose wrote:

I'm considering flying from the Bay Area to Seattle WA next September
(I'm not based out there) and was wondering what kind of flight
conditions I could expect.

Peter gave a good response. I'll just add that winning the "perfectly nice
clear weather" lottery is much more likely in early September rather than late
September.

Demonick

"Jose" wrote in message
m...
I'm considering flying from the Bay Area to Seattle WA next September (I'm
not based out there) and was wondering what kind of flight conditions I
could expect.

You can expect near perfect weather. Icing is extremely unlikely.