There are worse places to be stuck....

Still in Paris. I have to remind myself what every FI has told every one of us at some point: "Better to be down here wishing we were up there, than up there wishing we were down here." Flying VFR is a dance with the weather, and sometimes our partner is quite demanding, even unyielding.

I was fully aware that a long cross-country trip over Northern Europe at the beginning of November meant greater risk for being stuck on the ground at some point. This is that point. The mixed cold and warm fronts are sweeping over France, Benelux and Northern Germany in succession, bringing TS, RN, GR, then low cloud cover, then winds 15G25 or 30.

It seems that less weather is hitting Southern Germany, and perhaps not reaching all the way over to Berlin. One potential avenue is to leave LFPL tomorrow or Sunday and fly direct west by Stuttgart and Nurnberg then turn North to Strausberg (just east of Berlin). I know I can refuel there, and I can take a straight shot over the Baltic over Kristianstad and then up to Stockholm. I can always overnight in Berlin, as well, if need be.

Some resources I have found useful for European weather include:

http://euro.wx.propilots.net/  - This is a really great site that collects lots of different resources. There are lots of good choices, so look around, but the ones I use a lot are:
     - USAF surface 00-68 hr (although only 00-30 hr are really updated these days)
     - METAR/TAF multiple in/out
     - Cloudcover forecast 00-72 hr
     - Precipitation forecast 00-144 hr

www.yr.no - The norwegian consumer weather site, which is very good for long-term forecasts, although these are always, as we know, speculative at best.

www.meteox.com - Has some good forecasting of rainfall (graphic, so you can see what's happening all over the continent).

On the iPad, the AeroWeather Pro app is just great for collecting METAR/TAF for lots of aerodromes you are interested in. I use it to create groups for given routes so I can easily see how things are shaping up for a particular leg.

Being concentrated on the weather as one is in this situation, means that I am not really feeling like doing a lot of sight-seeing in Paris, which is a shame. There is an exhibit of Rafael at the Louvre that I would in another situation take a day to go see. But I feel that I don't want to miss any real opportunity I might get to fly out of here to more clement conditions. So I'm holed up here in my room with wifi scanning the weather every hour or two and using the in between time to write on the blog.

Wish me luck!

/Brian