Winds 320 at 3, gusts to 18

We were flying into Prairie du Chien, WI (PDC) today, for brunch at
the casino after picking up our son's girlfriend in Davenport, IA
(DVN) for her very first airplane ride, ever, and I was taxiing out
for departure, when PDC's AWOS reported this somewhat bizarre wind
reading.

That's a new record for us, as I believe the minimum airspeed
registered by an AWOS is 3 knots -- but with gusts to 18? We
actually both did a "Say what?" into the intercom, and we listened to
the whole thing again. Then, within a minute, the AWOS was reporting
"Winds calm", which just made the report even more unusual.

The weather today was unusual in other ways, too. When we departed
Iowa City at a bit past noon, the temperature was 85. When we landed
in PDC, the temperature was 70, and we all wished that we weren't
wearing shorts. Quite a cold front had passed, obviously, and the
first taste of autumn was in the air -- yet there was no precipitation
associated with any of this.

Earlier, our weather briefer even got a chuckle out of the winds aloft
forecast, as each reporting station along the route of flight was
predicting an entirely different set of winds down low. Dubuque, Des
Moines, Quad Cities and Cedar Rapids were all reporting winds that
were radically different at 3000 and 6000 feet. At 9000 feet they all
agreed on a generally westerly component.

Luckily, our son's girlfriend's ride went well. She took little
notice of the mild turbulence down low, and she seemed to truly enjoy
swooping and wheeling over the Mighty Mississippi. He may have found
a keeper!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"