Week Beginning Monday 9th September

[Dave Thomas]

Monday no good too much chance of rain
Tuesday looks nicely promising for ridge soaring the Long Mynd - maybe more and will update tomorrow.
Wednesday and Thursday, possibly showery and a bit windy again - forecasts vary at present but SW to West wind
Friday, possibly light NW winds and sunny
Weekend too far away to see any particular pattern yet.

[Dave Thomas]

Tuesday has quite a variety of variances across the forecasts, due to the expected location of the front during the day I guess - which of course most forecasts don't actually indicate you just have to interpret where it might be from the other indications (wind speed, direction, temperature, sun). Anyway what seems most probably is that the best air is in North Wales near our area but I'm a bit stick on site choice. Winds are due to back from NW to W and though Llangollen might be ok early on may well not be by the time the low cloud has cleared and dry out the air. I did think of Llandinam and am still thinking that might be an option, but the winds are due to be slightly lower over to the west except on the coast, than further east towards Mynd., so Llandinam might have marginally better air but a greater risk of it not being ridge soarable. In fact further east still at the Wrekin it is due to be more NW for longer and much stronger, so that could well be soarable in the afternoon. Around the Mynd it could clear nicely in the afternoon and probably westerly, but forecasts vary a lot in wind speed, between barely anything to quite breezy for HG's to easily ridge soar. Other options - Lawley or Caer Caradoc if really light as much bigger than the Mynd, Camlo west face, Wrekin.

[Dave Thomas]

Yesterday, flying early on at Lawley I hear was good in a NW wind, meanwhile it was pretty dead at the long mynd launch though black knoll was soarable for trainees and maybe others too. Eventually the sun did open up the sky then and it suddenly got nice until it got too strong for most PG's. I don't know if any HG's flew. Some pilots went to Llandinam but haven't heard how they got on, but the Clatter weather station indicated it had gone WSW pretty early on so would be useful to know what it was like over that way for soaring - always useful knowledge for future forecasting purposes.

Wednesday is due to clear up this afternoon, but only possibly suitable for HG's
Thursday blown out
Friday nice air in our area light northerlies
Weekend nice sunny weather but not very thermic, not sure about the wind yet.

[Dave Thomas]

Frirday has forecasts varying especially in wind speed and direction. somewhere between soarable at the larger sites and hardly anything at all. There's also due to be large variations in direction over relatively short distances, so choosing a site is going to be difficult until the last moment tomorrow. However it does look reasonably hopeful of a decent day somewhere or other.

[Geoffm]

At the moment, it looks like Llangollen might be on for Friday. Or Bradwell in the Peaks.

[Dave Thomas]

Today in our area it's currently west of North but quite light - Llangollen looks best early on, however most forecasts suggest going NNE in the afternoon. Whether Corndon will be on - maybe for thermalling. An alternative might be Wrekin where the wind is due to be slightly stronger, and it does work when reasonably north. From my experience Sarn needs more wind than Corndon to work. another option might be Hundred House, or peak district. Sea air is forecast to come in over the Cheshire plain, which will change things and lower cloudbase/inversion level, but tends to be selective of where it reaches - Llangollen quite often, but not Corndon.

[Geoffm]

Llangollen was flyable most of the day (and possibly still is). Light winds, very thermic, easy to go XC at least till mid afternoon, though as far as I know only a couple of people did. People also went from Bradwell.

I think the sea air did come in to Llangollen - there was certainly a significant change in the sky late afternoon. Still flyable, but less chance of XC at that point.

Saturday is SW. Clatter, though could be a bit top end for PGs. Possibly Camlo too.

Sunday: west. Hanglidable most of the day, PGs too, if not top end, otherwise start and end of the day for them.

[Geoffm]

Just to add to my comments about XCs yesterday, having seen the league his morning. Loads of 100+ XCs from Bradwell. Just one sub-100 XC from Llangollen. I am sure this is a reflection of the choices of pilots at the two sites, not the site conditions. I was flying at Llangollen, but chose not to go XC, but I'm 100% certain it was easy to get high and at the very least leave the hill. Within the space of an hour I left three climbs which were taking me to base. And looking at the sky downwind, it was excellent, and I'm as sure as you can be that there were good distances to be had.

[Geoffm]

Sunday was more or less exactly as we said. Hanglidable all day, some PGs flew at times, but it was top end. At the time of writing this, early evening, it has dropped enough for PGs, but I can't see any flying.

It was cloudy all day, though didn't rain. Base was surprisingly low at times, briefly down to 700 feet ATO at one point when I was flying. The sailplanes stopped launching because of the low base.

Still, for hangies at least, a nice flying day. And loads there. Unfortunately, there was one accident, a broken arm in the so-called upright corner. His approach was quite slow, and you need plenty of speed if landing there, to allow for the significant wind shadow effect.