The latest Center Weather Advisories (CWAs) are available to be displayed on the EZWxBrief Map. To add this layer to the Map, press the Layer selector button from the vertical map menu. This will bring up the Layer selector menu as shown below. You can select All active CWAs or filter and show only specific CWA types (e.g., Airframe Icing, Turbulence, etc.).
While G-AIRMETs for IFR conditions issued by meteorologists at the Aviation Weather Center (AWC) are helpful, they only warn pilots about ceilings that are below 1,000 feet and/or visibility below 3 statute miles and are issued primarily for pilots flying VFR. CWAs for IFR conditions, on the other hand, are issued by the Center Weather Service Units (CWSUs) on an as-needed basis and are especially useful to IFR pilots. Specifically, these are issued when there is a widespread area of Low Instrument Flight Rules (LIFR) conditions and tend to augment the G-AIRMETs for IFR conditions very nicely.
CWAs are displayed on the Map as cyan-colored polygons like the one shown below. This CWA was issued by the Jacksonville CWSU for LIFR conditions that includes ceilings as low as 200 feet and visibility as low as 1/2 statute miles as stated in the CWA bulletin. In EZWxBrief it's useful to display both the IFR G-AIRMET (purple dashed polygon) and overlay the CWA as is shown below. Also useful is to overlay the flight category markers. Those stations that are reporting LIFR conditions will show up as magenta-colored circles. This provides a very complete picture of the adverse weather in this region.
Only active CWAs are displayed. Given that most CWAs issued are valid for two hours or less, the EZDeparture Advisorâ„¢ time slider needs to be set to a departure time that is within the valid time of the CWAs. This will likely be close to the current time.
Most pilots are weatherwise, but some are otherwiseâ„¢
Dr. Scott Dennstaedt
Weather Systems Engineer
Founder, EZWxBriefâ„¢
CFI & former NWS meteorologist
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