Winnipeg

Hey, I'm in Winnipeg! Well, actually at St. Andrews airport, which is slightly north and is full of small planes and training schools, like Boundary Bay.

Again, weather was the main issue today. I couldn't leave Kenora this morning because of some rain and low ceilings overnight that didn't clear. When it did clear, it was followed immediately by a line of thunder clouds that swept in from the northwest, although they were dissipating by the time they reached Kenora. I had a long discussion with the weather flight service specialist, and he indicated that once it passed, it looked like good VFR all the way to Regina.


So I walked around Kenora. It's a really pretty resort town, completely focused on the lake (Kenora is on the northern end of the Lake of the Woods). There are marinas and boats everywhere; even the local Safeway has a big dock where boaters can pull up to do grocery shopping. There are more boats at the dock than there are cars in the parking lot. There is a well-established downtown core. It's hard to believe this is the same town Pete and I stayed overnight in on the eastbound trip.


After lunch, I rechecked the weather and considered flying at least part way to Regina. Brandon would be halfway, and there would be alternates to stop at earlier. But there was one long leg from Kenora to Winnipeg where there was nothing. I checked with FSS again, he confirmed that there was scattered cumulus at 3500 from Kenora to Winnipeg but sky clear after that. He also confirmed that there was some small possibility of thunderstorm building, but there was absolutely nothing showing on any radar yet. So I headed out to the airport and was in the air by 3pm. Not the best time of day if you want to avoid thermal activity, but the briefer had confirmed nothing visible, and I was ready to turnaround or land at the nearest airport in case of trouble.


I flew at 2700 ft, and it was quite bumpy under all those clouds, but nothing seemed to be building into towering cumulus. About 40NM from Winnipeg, I could see some dark cloud way off in the distance ahead of me. I called Winnipeg FSS and asked for a weather update. She said there was a strong storm cell directly overhead St. Andrews airport at the very moment, with tops to 39000 ft. That's where I was headed! I considered options: turnaround, turn south to somewhere south of Winnipeg, or what? I initially considered turning to Steinbech, which is south of Winnipeg, but the FSS said the storm was moving southeast. I definitely didn't want to try and out run it. After a discussion of options, I decided to head north, where the weather was still clear and wait for the storm to play out or land at an airport up that way. About 25NM from St. Andrews I was able to hear the controller on the radio, and he was clearing airplanes for landing. He had turned off the ATIS (automatic terminal weather information channel) during the storm and pilots were all calling in, saying "negative ATIS". I asked him whether the storm had now passed, because I didn't know whether these guys were bigger planes doing landings during the storm, or whether the storm was "light" or what.


He said it had passed about 10min ago, and the sky was clear. So I announced I was coming in for a full stop. I could still see the storm, very dark all the way to the ground, some distance off to my left, but I didn't have the airport in sight. Eventually I found the airport, right where the GPS said it should be, and I landed in light winds under a blue sky.


There is a flying school here called "Harv's Air". They have a very nice facility, and told me to feel free to do flight planning in the morning in their classrooms. I asked about the storm I just missed; they said it was a really really heavy rain burst and quite big hail -- in fact, they had started moving their planes into hangers, afraid for hail damage!

That's kind of a lesson about how fast thunder cells can develop. I had called FSS just before I left Kenora, where I was told nothing was developing on any radar, but my total flight time (engine start to engine stop) was 1.4 hours. The thunder cell had developed, matured and dissipated in less than an hour! In any case, I decided that was close enough for today. No point in risking another one on the way to Brandon.

I refueled, tied the plane down for the night and am now in a hotel called "Canad" about 10km towards Winnipeg. One of their students heard me calling for a taxi, and offered to give me a ride to the hotel. I haven't been able to contact my cousin here; he's often out of town on business, and I had no idea that I'd end up here for the night.

Just checked the weather forecast for tomorrow; it sucks again. Fog in the morning in Brandon and Regina, building low cloud from the west and thunderstorms in the afternoon. But Saturday-Sunday are supposed to be good all the way to Calgary. I don't know if there will be a flying window tomorrow. But gotta get prepared anyway.