Visibility Flashcards
VFR minimum conditions?
Visibility greater than 5km
Vertical cloud distance 1000ft
Horizontal cloud distance 1.5km
4 non-atmospheric causes of low visibility
- Glare from the sun or a windscreen
- Contaminated windscreens
- Scratched windscreens
- UV damaged (acrylic) windscreens
5 atmospheric causes of low visibility
- Water droplets
- Ice crystals
- Smoke
- Chemical pollutants
- Volcanic ash
What visibility does fog imply?
Less than 1000m
What visibility does mist/haze/smoke/dust/sand imply?
1000m - 5000m
5 types of fog?
- Radiation fog
- Advection fog
- Evaporation/steam fog/artic smoke
- Frontal fog
- Hill/upslope fog
What are the ideal conditions for radiation fog?
High RH, light winds (2-8kt), clear skies
High pressure system over land
Nighttime temperature inversion
3 ways radiation fog disperses
- Temperature increases above dew point
- Wind mixing dry and saturated air
- May lift into a low St or Sc
What causes advection fog?
When a parcel of warm, moist air moves horizontally over a colder surface
What type of areas in advection fog associated with?
Cool sea areas adjacent to coasts in the summer
What causes Steam Fog/Arctic Fog/Sea Smoke?
Very cold air sitting over a warm, moist surface
As soon as water evaporates it condenses causing fog
What causes frontal fog?
Rain forces the cloud base down
Warm front over a cold front creates an inversion
What causes orographic/hill fog?
Air forced up a slope condenses and forms clouds, close to the surface these are fog
What is freezing fog?
Fog at a temperature below 0 degrees
What does freezing fog contain?
Supercooled water droplets which freeze on impact