The common ways of getting a good idea of what the weather is doing is either through the use of a telephone weather briefer or getting the latest weather off of the internet.  I use both frequently, but at  least one of them before I go out and fly even in clear blue skies.  Weather briefings give you NOTAMS which are important to be aware of regardless of how good the local weather is.  To get a weather briefing over the phone, dial 1-800-WX-BRIEF and follow the prompts to talk to a weather briefer.  Weather briefers can talk fast so there are a few things you can do to help yourself out.  One is to be prepared with a pen and paper.  I will often write out what I can before I call the briefer just to have my paper outlined so I can read it when I’m done.  I give myself an area for the synopsis, winds aloft, freezing level, NOTAMS, PIREPS, and I leave two areas for the airports I will be going to - one for current conditions and one for forecast conditions.  They are capable of giving you a lot of information quickly so having a place to put it right away helps.  Learning the abbreviations to write shorthand helps also - example - Broken Layer at 4300 could be written as BKN 043.  Much of the weather briefing can be written out abbreviated like that and it helps.

    Another thing that you can do while you are learning this is to tell the briefer that you are a student pilot and they generally slow down some for you.  

    When you call 1-800-WX-BRIEF, the briefers will expect you to give them the following info:

    VFR or IFR flight

    Aircraft Tail Number

    Aircraft Type

    Departure point and time (in zulu helps)

    Altitude

    Route of flight

    Destination

    Duration of flight (how long you might be out)

 

    After you give them this info, they will take a second and than begin spewing information at you.  They are very helpful folks however so even though they talk fast make sure and ask them questions when you have them.  After a few times of getting a briefing it becomes easier.

 

    Once you are signed up for it, you can login and get a weather briefing.  There are a few to choose from but usually a standard weather briefing is what you want to use.  We use low altitude weather briefings so click on that.  The hardest part of this website is learning how it wants all the information entered, but once you know what it is looking for you can fill it out quickly.  After you have given it the necessary info, a briefing a few pages long will come up and you can scroll through and get everything a weather briefer gives you over the phone.  Weather from Kansas City is usually included but doesn’t really pertain to what we are doing.  A little practice will give you an eye for what you need to pay attention to.

    There are other sites on the internet but I have found DUATS to be one of the better ones and it is the official government site for aviation weather briefings, whereas other sites do not count as having given you an official weather briefing.  Get comfortable using both the phone and DUATS and you will have two good tools at your disposal.  Observing what you find in your weather briefings and looking out the window while you are at work will start to teach you much about weather and the way it behaves.

    

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