I have been flying infrequently to maintain currency for a while now but I’m going to try to be more consistent. It’s easy to find reasons not to head out to the airport the longer you take between flights.

So, last week I completed a flight review and yesterday I took advantage of what is forecast to be one of our last nice days for a while. The weather forecasters are saying a major winter storm will hit the Reno area starting tomorrow night. Winds at 10,000′ are supposed to be increasing today.

The forecast discussion is:

VFR conditions prevail across the region through Sunday, with thicker mid-high level cloud cover through much of today and tonight, before a short clearing period Sunday ahead of the main storm. Patchy freezing fog still has a 30-50% chance of producing IFR/LIFR at KTRK [Truckee, CA] this morning between 10-14Z [2-6 am PST]. although coverage and duration may be limited by the incoming higher level cloud cover.

S-SW sinds will increase aloft throughout the weekend with FL100 wind gusts up to 55 kts into Sunday, afternoon surface gusts up to 20-25 kts each day through Sunday, leading to increasing turbulence and periods of low level wind shear even before the main storm arrives Sunday night.

A major winter storm moves into the region from Sunday night through mid-week, producing widespread aviation impacts for all main terminals, with the greatest overall impacts for Sierra sites.

Up here in the mountains when surface winds get up to 25 kts the flow over the mountains that drops down into the valleys can get turbulent enough to make flying for fun a bit challenging. The peaks just to the west of us rise to 8-10,000 feet.

But yesterday was a pretty nice day to fly though it was a bit chilly at 8500′ without a cabin heater. My JPI said it was 2 deg C. [36 F]. Even so, I toured around the area north and west of the airport, logging a 1.3 hour flight. I even found myself alone in the traffic pattern (always a plus) and logged four landings (yes, and four patterns). I fly a very close-in traffic pattern and not having to worry about sequencing with other traffic (especially training aircraft from schools at the other Reno airport) makes it much easier.

Weather-permitting I’ll try it again in a week or so, after this predicted storm passes by.