Aviation weather in The North Atlantic and Arctic

Long overwater legs with few alternates, persistent airframe icing in the climb and descent, rapidly deepening lows and an ash risk that has already closed the airspace once in living memory.

At a glance

Main hazards Airframe icing, Turbulence, Snow and contamination, Crosswind, Volcanic ash
Most demanding season October – April
Thunderstorm season June – August
Representative airports BIKF · EGPF · CYYR · ENBO · BGSF
Official sources Icelandic Met Office aviation · London VAAC — volcanic ash advisories

The services linked above are the authoritative source for this region. This page explains what their reports contain; it is not a substitute for an official briefing.

What these hazards mean

Airframe icing Supercooled water freezing on the wing, changing its shape and adding weight — worst between 0 °C and −20 °C in visible moisture.
Turbulence Clear-air, mechanical or convective. The clear-air kind gives no visual warning and is why the seatbelt sign stays on in cruise.
Snow and contamination Snow, slush and ice on the runway cut braking action and change the accelerate–stop distance; de-icing adds holdover-time arithmetic.
Crosswind Wind across the runway. Every aircraft has a demonstrated limit, and a wet or contaminated surface lowers what is usable well below it.
Volcanic ash Ash melts in the engine core and flames it out. VAAC advisories, not the METAR, are the source that matters.

METAR decoder

Paste a raw observation and read it in plain language. It runs in your browser — the report never leaves your device, and nothing is stored.

Works with ICAO reports and with the North American SM / inHg variant.

Related guides

Rime ice building along the leading edge of a wing in cold cloud

Aircraft Icing Explained: Where It Forms, and Why It Is So Serious

Ice changes the shape of a wing, and a wing is only a shape. Here are the three types, the temperature band that produces them, and what the reports tell you in advance.

Weather hazards in flight 9 min read

De-icing fluid arcing over a wing in the dark before an early winter departure

Winter Operations: De-icing, Holdover Times and Contaminated Runways

Why winter departures collapse into queues, what a holdover time really is, and how a runway condition code changes the numbers a crew has to meet.

Regional aviation weather 9 min read

Wave clouds stacked downwind of a mountain ridge — turbulence you can see

Turbulence: The Four Types, and Which Ones Can Be Forecast

Clear-air, mechanical, convective and wake turbulence come from different causes and are predicted with very different success. Here is which is which.

Weather hazards in flight 9 min read

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Last updated 2026-08-09 by aviationwheater.siten.co · About us

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