Understanding the Weather
Original guides to aviation meteorology, the Indian monsoon and severe weather — written from operational experience, for people who need to make decisions.
Weather information is abundant. Weather understanding is considerably less so. These guides are written to close that gap — explaining not merely what the instruments report, but what the reports mean for someone who has to act upon them.
They are drawn from over eleven years of operational aviation meteorology with the Indian Air Force, where the difference between decoding a report and interpreting one was frequently the difference that mattered.
— Monalisa Dutta, Founder, Sky Watch Weather India
Aviation Weather
Operational weather for flight crew, dispatchers and anyone who plans against the sky.
How to Read a METAR
Every element of the standard aerodrome weather report explained in sequence.
Read the guide → 9 minUnderstanding the TAF
How to read an aerodrome forecast, and what its change groups actually mean.
Read the guide → 8 minVFR, MVFR, IFR and LIFR
What the four flight categories mean, how they are derived, and what they omit.
Read the guide → 6 minThe Cumulonimbus
Why a single cloud outweighs an entire weather report.
Read the guide → 8 minWindshear and Microbursts
The hazard that begins by improving your performance.
Read the guide → 7 minCloud Cover, Oktas and Ceilings
How sky condition is measured, and why a low layer is not a ceiling.
Read the guide → 6 minIndian Monsoon
How the season actually works, from onset criteria to the breaks that decide the outcome.
How the IMD Declares Monsoon Onset
Onset is not declared because it rained. Three conditions must be met together.
Read the guide → 8 minUnderstanding the Indian Monsoon
The mechanism behind the season, from differential heating to the monsoon trough.
Read the guide → 8 minBreak Monsoon
Why the rain stops mid-season, and why breaks matter more than the onset date.
Read the guide → 6 minClimate Drivers
The ocean and atmosphere patterns that shape an entire monsoon season.
Weather Observation
Reading the instruments — radar, satellite and lightning detection.
Doppler Radar Colours Explained
What green, yellow and red actually measure — and why red often means hail.
Read the guide → 8 minReading Satellite Imagery
Visible, infrared and water vapour — three channels, three different questions.
Read the guide → 7 minHow Lightning Detection Works
How networks locate strikes, and why it matters in India.
Read the guide → 6 minSevere Weather
Cyclones, heat, fog and the warning systems built around them.
Cyclone Categories
The IMD classification, and why agencies quote different wind speeds.
Read the guide → 7 minIMD Colour-Coded Warnings
Green, yellow, orange and red describe impact, not rainfall quantity.
Read the guide → 5 minHeatwaves in India
The criteria, and why humidity changes everything.
Read the guide → 6 minWinter Fog in North India
Why it forms, and why it persists for days at a time.
Read the guide → 7 min