Arizona Weather

With the anticipation of the upcoming competition I thought I should check out the weather.

Late in last year's flying season, I came across XC Skies a soaring forecasting tool for us free-fliers. It may rival Dr Jack that we've all come to love and depend on.

XC Skies advantage is that it is VERY easy to use and has pretty maps! I always found Dr Jack too plain jane and hard to navigate and read.

This is the interface complete with easy-to-user radio-buttons on the left, a pan-able Google Map in the center and a great scale on the right.

Of course the test will be if it is accurate. They claim that they are thru their testing and are please with their accuracy, especially on non-coastal forecasts. They do have a feedback tool that you can simply draw a box around the area that you were flying in and offer the actual values that you found.

The service is free for current forecasts but with a mere $5/month subscription, you get 3-day forecasts (at 3-hour intervals) and access to skew-t charts (and other tools) just by right-clicking on the area on the map you are interested in.

The Arizona forecast...?
Looks like 4-7000' base (AGL) and climb-rates of 6-800fpm....not the 12,000' ground clearance we got one day last year but it is earlier this year and ya just never know! (looks windier than last year too).