Weekend Weather

[RobinHastings]

FRIDAY, SEPT. 9 through SUNDAY, SEPT. 11:
I hope you got some rain this week. It looks like that's all we're getting, until sometime next week. With drying conditions, conditions look good for flying in Southern New Mexico - at least for the right day. Saturday looks like the worst of the weekend, with strong easterly winds forecast for most of our area - probably too strong for Anapra, even, no matter what you've flying. Friday looks fairly good if you can use a northwest wind, light to moderate - that would make La Luz a good site to try. Saturday, as noted, looks like an east-wind blowout throughout the region. Sunday, though, looks really good for most of our foot-launched sites. Winds will be light to moderate, southwest early on and west by evening. Dry Canyon, la Luz, Agave Hill, Little Floridas, Kilbourne Hole, Matt's Mountain - all of these should be good, that day. We might get more rain late next week, so take advantage of this situation while you can! Sunday might be open for me, so let me know if you want to go (probably at Dry Canyon). Keep safe, everyone!
-Robin
575-386-8212 cell

[RobinHastings]

FRIDAY, SEPT. 16 through SUNDAY, SEPT. 18:
Conditions look pretty good for this weekend. The chance of precipitation is low, the winds are mostly west and southwest, and the windspeeds are in the range we like. Sunday afternoon in El Paso the winds might be east and southeast, fairly light, so that may be a good day to try Anapra; otherwise I'd concentrate on our usual foot launched sites throughout the weekend: Dry Canyon, La Luz, Little Floridas, Matt's Mountain, Agave Hill, they all should work. I plan to be out hunting in the Sacramentos, but I'd be happy to do some flying on Saturday at Dry Canyon if anyone is interested. Give me a call by Friday if you want to fly, and I can take my glider along with my bow. Be safe and have some fun!
-Robin

[RobinHastings]

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23 through SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25:
The first two days of the weekend look pretty good for flying in our area. It should be dry, and the winds are out of the right direction for most of our sites. On Sunday the conditions are supposed to change, with northeast winds and some possible rain coming in. Friday's winds should be fairly strong, out of the southwest. Dry Canyon, La Luz, Little Floridas, Agave Hill, Matt's Mountain, Kilbourne Hole should all be possible. If you're flying a PG, get out there early, as it may blow out for those wings by midday. On Saturday the winds get a little lighter, but more westerly. Matt's Mountain, northwest of Las Cruces, might come off of your list for that reason - it gets turbulent in a straight west wind. On the other hand, the Little Floridas, southeast of Deming, do a little better then. As for our RGSA camp out, up at Gray Hill, it should be flyable both on Friday and Saturday. Friday will see strong west winds, and on Saturday they get a little lighter and come from the northwest, which is a better direction for soaring that site. As ever, with a PG be ready to launch early; for HG, midday might be optimal. Sunday looks like it might work in the morning, with north winds at a reasonable speed, but it may turn to rain and northeast winds as the day goes on. It's your call, campers! I plan to head up to Gray Hill on Friday morning. Get some airtime this weekend, folks, and keep in mind our Columbus Day Gathering, now only two weekends away! (WARNING: Objects in calendar are closer than they appear.)
-Robin

[RobinHastings]

FRIDAY, SEPT. 30 through SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2:
Looks good for flying, folks! (And so does next weekend, for our Columbus Day Gathering in Alamogordo.) If there's going to be any rain, it'll be in Alamogordo, on Saturday afternoon, but I don't think that the chances for that are very good. This Friday the winds in Las Cruces and El Paso will be light south/southeast, but the rest of the weekend it'll be light west and southwest all around the region. And Alamogordo has southwest winds likely for all three days. So, Matt's Mountain probably won't work on Friday, and Anapra would be a poor bet for that day as well. But Dry Canyon and La Luz should be good. On Saturday almost all of our sites should be worth flying: Dry Canyon, La Luz, Matt's Mountain, Agave Hill, Little Floridas, maybe even Kilbourne Hole. Same for Sunday. I might be able to fly any day of the three, though I plan to be in Sunspot on Saturday and probably couldn't meet that day until 1:00 or 2:00 pm. Keep next weekend in mind if you don't get to soar in this one! And fly safe when you do...
-Robin

[RobinHastings]

FRIDAY, OCT. 7 through SUNDAY, OCT. 9:
This weekend's weather is a little tricky to forecast. What will the winds do? What about the clouds, rain and temperature? Well, it's not going to be optimal on Saturday, but Friday, Sunday and Monday look pretty good, especially in Alamogordo. We could get some thunderstorms, mostly on Saturday, and it'll be cooler then. (High in the mid-60's fahrenheit.) By Sunday afternoon, the odds for more rain go way down, and the weather warms up to our usual 70's. Friday and Monday look pretty good, too. Winds? Southwest, light to moderate, on Friday afternoon. Saturday, east over most of our area, but probably southeast to south in Alamogordo. On Sunday, easterly to start out, then turn to south and southwest by afternoon, fairly light. On Monday (Columbus Day) they should be light southwest. My recommendation is to come to the Columbus Day Gathering on Friday for an afternoon flight, see what happens on Saturday, and then fly on Sunday and Monday. Anapra should work for PG's on Saturday, down in the El Paso area; I don't think that our foot-launched sites in the Deming and Las Cruces area will work this weekend, though. I plan to be at the Cox Field LZ in Alamogordo on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, ready to take pilots up to the launches. I'll hope to see you all then!
-Robin

[RobinHastings]

FRIDAY, OCT. 14 to SUNDAY, OCT. 16:
The monsoon season went out with a bang last Sunday in Alamogordo - but, it went out. Our weekend and the week to follow look dry, and the winds will be moderate out of the west and southwest all weekend. So, almost all of our foot-launched sites should work pretty well for flying for the next few days: Dry Canyon, La Luz, Little Floridas, Matt's Mountain, Agave Hill, Kilbourne Hole - they should all be possible. (Anapra is off the table, though.) Gray Hill, up west of Socorro, is also a pretty good bet through this weekend. So is towing and training at the Sod Farms. Temperatures will be a little warm for this season, with highs in the mid 80's (mid 20's, Celsius) but nice and dry. This is a good time to be soaring, folks! Be safe while you do it.
-Robin

[RobinHastings]

FRIDAY, OCT. 21 through SUNDAY, OCT. 23:
This will be a dry weekend again. Winds will be light, mostly west and southwest, though in El Paso and Las Cruces we may get some light southeast winds. Alamogordo and Deming look west and southwest. My prognostication, then, is that Dry Canyon and La Luz should work pretty well. The Little Floridas should work just fine. Matt's Mountain might not be good until Monday or Tuesday, and Agave Hill looks like a poor bet if there's the word "east" anywhere in the wind direction forecast. Anapra might have too much south in it, and will be pretty light anyway. The Sod Farms, on the other hand, should be just great for towing. The temperatures should be pretty pleasant all around the area, so my advice is to get out and fly - we don't get weekends like this all year, you know!
-Robin

[RobinHastings]

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28 through SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30:
Come on! Stop watching football, get off the couch, and dust off your wing! This is a good weekend for airtime. No precipitation, and the jetstream is going to leave us alone for the moment. Friday is a good day for most of our foot-launched sites, with winds south to southwest, fairly light. Saturday, winds are west early on, then shift to northwest for the afternoon. Again, fairly light, probably 5 to 8 mph in the landing zones. On Sunday we get light southwest winds all day, 5 to 10 on the ground, at most. On Saturday I would stick with La Luz, ready to fly whatever the wind direction. The other two days, take your pick. Dry Canyon, La Luz, Matt's Mountain, Little Floridas, Agave Hill (for PG - too light for HG) maybe even Kilbourne Hole, all should work. Training at the Sod Farms ought to be fine as well. I had a nice flight on Monday at Dry Canyon, but if someone wants to go there on Sunday I could be persuaded. We go back to Standard Time next weekend, at which point sunset will be around 5:00 pm, so if you want an afternoon flight, now's the weekend. Be safe, everyone, and enjoy this lovely autumn weather while we have it.
-Robin

[Bill Cummings]

Robin, "Eagle," turned me onto the website below. See what you think.
https://www.windytv.com/32.314/-106.780?namConus,32.177,-107.152,9

[RobinHastings]

The winds site is pretty cool, Bill. How accurate is it on the forecasts? Yet another source of data, before we go out and try it anyway...

And now, for my forecast:
SATURDAY, NOV. 5 and SUNDAY, NOV. 6:
This weekend could be stormy. Of course, this is New Mexico; "If you don't like the weather, just cross the street!" If we don't cower in fear of lightning and precipitation, though, it looks to me as though the winds will be mostly south/southeast on Saturday, fairly strong, and turning overnight to west/northwest on Sunday. Mild in the morning on Sunday, moderate to strong in the afternoon. Dry Canyon might work on Saturday, if the winds aren't strong and the lightning isn't striking. Our other foot-launched sites are probably a poor bet. If Bill is up for more towing, though, there is a road that runs NW/SE, near Las Cruces. On Sunday, La Luz might be the wisest site to try. Again, this is based on the assumption that it's not being rained/hailed on at the time you are trying to launch. If the thunderstorms really are in the area, their gust fronts are something to watch for. Give me a call if you want to fly and you think the weather will cooperate! In conditions like these, be careful. (I said CAREFUL!)
-Robin
575-541-5744