Evening update
Looking at KMRY, it never did clear off today (per forecast). The best was OVC016, so an instrument approach does seem likely tomorrow. Nearby KSNS cleared off to SCT018 at 2015Z, but that wouldn’t have really helped. That means a possible IFR departure back out of MRY too.
KEMT went to marginal VFR around 1000 local, but a special VFR departure [not recommended in most cases for new VFR pilots] would have been possible. The TAFs for BUR and ONT indicated a similar pattern tomorrow, so it will be a morning evaluation as to whether VFR, special VFR or IFR is the right answer on departure.
The only AIRMET that looks to affect us so far (though they don’t yet extend far enough out) would be for IFR conditions along the coast (as already discussed above).
No TFR or NOTAM changes that will impact us. Winds seem to be turning a little more out of the south, so tailwinds on the way there seem likely (and headwind back)
Original
I awoke this morning to cloudy gray skies. At home, we have what I would call an indefinite ceiling – hard to tell if it is actual clouds or just poor visibility. A quick check of METARs shows a mixture of overcast skies and poor visibility in the LA Basin:
KFUL 051353Z 00000KT 10SM OVC012 21/16 A2982 KPOC 051347Z 00000KT 1SM BR CLR 17/15 A2986 KBUR 051353Z 16004KT 3SM HZ OVC007 KLGB 051400Z 12003KT 10SM OVC010
We’ve had some hot days recently in SoCal. Luckily, we can often get away from the worst of the heat with a short flight and have many options to boot. My home base of El Monte (KEMT) was experiencing temps in the mid 90F’s (35C) on Saturday:
While it may be legal to put your pilot friend who just earned his license in the right seat as safety pilot, I wouldn’t recommend it without a little more work and discussion. Let’s see why…