Skywatchweather.in
Skywatchweather.in
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. Each guide is written to be read by a non-specialist and to remain useful to a professional.
— Monalisa Dutta, Founder, Sky Watch Weather India
Operational weather for flight crew, dispatchers and anyone who plans against the sky.
Every element of the standard aerodrome weather report explained in sequence, with the operational judgement that decoding alone does not provide.
Read the guide → 9 minThe TAF tells you what an aerodrome is expected to do over the coming hours. Understanding its change groups is what separates reading a forecast from planning against one.
Read the guide → 8 minThe four colour-coded flight categories summarise ceiling and visibility into a single indication. Understanding how they are derived is essential to using them sensibly.
Read the guide → 6 minEvery significant hazard in aviation meteorology is present simultaneously within one cloud type. Understanding its structure explains why avoidance, rather than penetration, is the only acceptable strategy.
Read the guide → 8 minA microburst encounter starts with improving performance. Understanding why that initial gain is the most dangerous part of the sequence is central to recognising and surviving it.
Read the guide → 7 minCloud reporting appears simple until it matters. The distinction between a low layer and a ceiling changes the operational picture entirely.
Read the guide → 6 minHow the season actually works, from onset criteria to the breaks that decide the outcome.
Onset is not declared because it rained. Three independent conditions must be satisfied together, and understanding them changes how the season is read.
Read the guide → 8 minThe monsoon is a seasonal reversal of wind driven by the differential heating of land and ocean, shaped by the Earth's rotation and the position of the jet streams.
Read the guide → 8 minExtended dry spells during July and August do more to determine whether a monsoon season succeeds or fails than the onset date ever does.
Read the guide → 6 minThe ocean and atmosphere patterns that shape an entire monsoon season.
A temperature anomaly in the Pacific Ocean influences rainfall over India. The relationship is real, well documented, and considerably less deterministic than commonly presented.
Read the guide → 7 minA temperature gradient across the tropical Indian Ocean influences the monsoon independently of the Pacific, and can offset an El Niño entirely.
Read the guide → 6 minReading the instruments — radar, satellite and lightning detection.
Radar colour measures how strongly the atmosphere reflects a pulse, not how much rain is coming. The difference explains most of the misreading seen in public commentary.
Read the guide → 8 minThree satellite channels answer three different questions. Knowing which to consult, and when, is the difference between looking at cloud and understanding it.
Read the guide → 7 minLightning networks locate strikes to within a few hundred metres in real time. In a country where lightning causes substantial loss of life each year, that capability has genuine value.
Read the guide → 6 minCyclones, heat, fog and the warning systems built around them.
The IMD uses a seven-stage intensity scale based on three-minute sustained winds, which is why the same storm may be described differently by different agencies.
Read the guide → 7 minGreen, yellow, orange and red describe expected impact and the action required, not simply the quantity of rain forecast.
Read the guide → 5 minThe IMD declares a heatwave using both absolute thresholds and departure from normal. Understanding the criteria explains why coastal warnings arrive at lower temperatures.
Read the guide → 6 minThe Indo-Gangetic plain experiences some of the most persistent fog anywhere in the world. The reasons are partly meteorological and partly geographical.
Read the guide → 7 min