What You Need to Know About the Weather for Skydiving

by | May 28, 2019 | Skydiving FAQs

We like to think of ourselves as the experts in Salisbury, NC weather forecasting. Heck: our business relies on it. Y’know what? We love it. We consider it our job to monitor the weather. We do everything in our power to not waste your time by having you drive out to skydive only to be turned around due to weather. Most of the time we get it right, but a few times a year the forecast and the actual weather don’t match up. When that’s the case, we happily reschedule your jump for the soonest possible slot, no problem.

Here’s a little insight into the method behind the madness, because we know you’re curious. Spoiler: It’s kinda cool!

WE ALWAYS THINK AHEAD

We start monitoring the forecast up to 7 days in advance, primarily to look for trends as the date gets closer. When we do, we’re monitoring three key details: cloud coverage, winds, and convection (in other words, thunderstorms). What tools underlie the decisionmaking? Well:

We primarily use NOAA’s hourly weather graph:

https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=35.6396&lon=-80.5247&unit=0&lg=english&FcstType=graphical

…and forecast discussion:

https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=NWS&issuedby=gsp&product=AFD&format=CI&version=1&glossary=1&highlight=off

…to make our weather calls. We have found NOAA to be by far the most accurate over the years. It doesn’t let us down.

In fact, we’ll go out on a limb and insist that you DON’T trust the weather app on your phone. If there is even a 20% chance of rain or thunderstorms on a given day, it will show rain — even though the entire day could end up sunny and perfect. How awful would it be to look out the window on your skydiving day and see beautiful blue skies when you opted out because your phone told you to?

WHEN CANCELLATIONS HAPPEN

Because weather changes quickly (duh!), we have to be agile. We sometimes cancel the day before, but that’s the earliest it’ll happen, and in dramatic circumstances. Usually, when we have to cancel, we will cancel the night before or even the morning of because forecasts can change so drastically and the worst thing we can do is cancel a day that ends up being great for skydiving.. In rare circumstances we will cancel a few day out, hurricanes, extremely high forecasted winds, etc.

So let’s find you some blue sky, shall we? Make your reservation today!

Piedmont Skydiving

Piedmont Skydiving is a veteran-owned dropzone is located between Charlotte and Greensboro in Salisbury, North Carolina. Led by certified instructors from the U.S. Parachute Association, we specialize in tandem skydiving at affordable prices.

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