Thunderstorms in IFR

Embedded cells, radar, deviations, and inadvertent penetration.

15 min read · IFR weather

After this lesson you can

  • Describe the three stages of a thunderstorm and which stage is most hazardous.
  • Explain why an embedded thunderstorm is a specifically IFR problem.
  • Recognize a microburst wind shear encounter and know why the escape response is counterintuitive.
  • Fly the correct procedure if a thunderstorm is penetrated inadvertently.

A thunderstorm packs just about every weather hazard known to aviation into one bundle: turbulence, hail, rain, snow, lightning, sustained updrafts and downdrafts, and icing conditions are all present at once. There is no useful correlation between how a storm looks from outside and how severe the turbulence or hail inside it actually is -- every thunderstorm should be treated as hazardous, and any with tops above 35,000 ft as extremely hazardous.

For a VFR pilot, the response is usually simple: see it, avoid it. For an instrument pilot flying inside a cloud layer, a cell can be entirely invisible until the airplane is inside it -- an embedded thunderstorm. This lesson covers how a storm develops, what each hazard actually does to the airplane, and the specific procedure for a storm you did not manage to avoid.

The rest of this lesson

  1. 1.Three stages, one dangerous middle
  2. 2.Turbulence and hail
  3. 3.Microburst and low-level wind shear
  4. 4.Reading a radar or datalink display
  5. 5.If a thunderstorm is entered inadvertently
  6. 6.The decision not to go

These 6 sections, their figures, the checks along the way and the end-of-lesson quiz come with the IFR track. Paid once, yours for good.

See what the IFR track costsEvery module 1 is free to read, no account, no card.

Key terms

Try to recall each definition before turning the card.