Hi Paul, as Mary Corrington already had pointed out: Virga is rain that evaporates before reaching the ground. With that evaporation there is a noticable cooling effect in the air. Colder air is heavier than warm air, thus is sinks. Pretty strong turbulence can develop, which becomes all the worse over mountains. Not a good area to fly in generally.
MDT usually stands for moderate, but I have to admit that I am reading this for the first time in conjunction with cloud build-ups. But as the METAR is speaking about cumulus, and likely towering CU, and there is a CB reported in the vicinity, it may well have that meaning. ALQDS definitively stands for "all quadrants" from the observers point of view. Hope that helps. I also can encourage everybody to just call Flight Safety in case there is anything on a Metar, a TAF, an Area Forecast or whatever wheather report/prognosis you may not understand. Usually, and in particular if you select an hour where they are not so extremely busy, those fine folks will go out of their way to explain things to us pilots. After all, it serves a safety purpose. Cheers, and Aloha Stefan, usually Tokyo presently in Kona, HI for CFI training Mooney M-10 N9547V ---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- From: Paul Anton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Fri, 05 May 2000 12:39:18 -0700 >This was appended to a recent METAR in the remarks area. > >VIRGA NW CB 7 N AND 10 E MOV NE MDT CU >ALQDS 60001 8/360 9/510 53003 WR//= > >I cannot decipher the following. VIRGA--- MDT---- ALQDS > >Since we did have some CU and TCU I think I need to learn the >abbreviations I can't decipher. > >Couldn't find it in AIM, have a "cheater" card somewhere and >I can't find that either. > >Thanks > >Paul >N2273H > > >_________________________________________________________________________ _______ >To unsubscribe from this list please send mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >___________________________________________________________ >T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 >Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics > > __________________________________________________________________________ ______ To unsubscribe from this list please send mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics
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