This is the first of three shows in a bonus series for our subscribers dedicated to building an understanding of the weather and forecasting. Emi Carvalho studied physics in school, but it wasn’t until he began paragliding that applied physics interested him. He talks about the basics of weather, focusing on island weather and the possibilities inherent in an island with mountains over 2,000m. Emi talks about where he turns to first for weather (Windy and any local knowledge), and what he usually looks for (wind intensity, direction, and temps at different altitudes.). He finishes up by talking about an interesting wrinkle with climate change & weather. “The biggest problem is that it’s making everything a little more unreliable, although that shift in weather is also opening new spots to paragliding.”

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Show Notes:

Find out more about Emi here:

https://fly-altitude.com/en/home-2/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/altitude.cv/

Main flying site in Switzerland goes July-November.
Flying goals (as of 2018? when we spoke): Chasing XC, trying to reach 300 km mark. Interested in vol-biv. Setting up a flying school in Cape Verde (which is now complete).
Studied physics in school, University of Lisbon. Focused on elementary physics until paragliding came along, when applied physics and weather became the new focus (5-6 years ago).
Weather flow: Depends on the site. In Switzerland: National Forecast System via app. Wind intensity & direction and temp at different heights, looking for Foehn, usually accurate.
In Portugal: Windguru
Cape Verde: Nothing specific software-wise, uses the North American data (Windy or Windguru.)
Flying cross country, looks for cloudbase at certain hours.
Uses mobile over desktop.
Alps: Meteo-Swiss, works well France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland.
Turkey: Windy didn’t seem to work well. Getting in touch with locals to check on what is reliable & most useful.
Only after flying a specific site for a while can you know how the weather predictions will apply.
Checking weather on the hill: Checks the morning before on the ’net, then spends 10 minutes trying to understand what’s happening and connect that with the forecast.
Flying flatlands: More important to know what’s happening at different heights with temperature gradients.
Windy super useful for visualization.
Local knowledge is the most important thing.
Looks at local topography for the area he’s flying and try to put in your mind how the mountains will affect the wind arriving in that area.
Types of weather systems he’s flown in: Islands (quite specific), Flatlands, Coastal, Mountains.
Local effects and how the wind changes in the afternoon.
Islands (with 2,000m mountains) always have a place to fly somewhere. Some site is always set up well for flying.
Flatlands: The thermals seems to align with the wind, “follow that highway through the clouds”
Mountains: Think of the route, requires more preparation than flatlands.
The day of a wrong weather call: On a day before a competition, was driving for hang gliders. Didn’t notice a cold front coming, almost launched but didn’t. The change was so quick there was no chance for the pilots already in the sky. Always check for cold fronts prior to flying.
Dragged backwards in one situation, had never thought about how to land backwards.
At some point you think you know better and start making bad decisions, and it’s just a question of whether you get away with it or not.

Common mistakes with weather:

not talking with locals. Thinking whatever is true at your home site is true everywhere.
in the beginning, everything thinks paragliding is one sport, after a while we realize paragliding is multiple sports (islands, coastal, mountains, flatlands etc)
there are so many different local effects everywhere that it’s probably impossible to learn them all
Flatlands vs mountain flying and what’s important.
Cloudbase is not always important, depending on where you’re flying.

Safety boundaries not to cross:

Intensity of wind
Wind direction
Foehn (pressure differentials North/South Alps)
Approaching cold fronts
Final Takeaway
There is always something more to learn.

Climate change & flying: The biggest problem is that it’s making everything a little more unreliable, although that shift in weather is also opening new spots to paragliding.

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