A practical weather book for anyone interested in flight, covering both large and small-scale systems. This edition contains up-to-date information on means of obtaining data such as the MetFAX system, plus details on METAR and TAF reports. The book describes the infulence of high-level jet streams on the development of depressions, as well as detailing thermals, lee waves and up-and-down currents which are important to pilots of sailplanes, microlights, hang gliders and balloons. Diagrams show the movement of air at various heights and also trace the development of clouds, from fair weather cumulus to giant cumulonimbus and the associated hazards of lightning, hail, downbursts and outflows.

Despite quantum leaps in cockpit technology, weather radar and forecasting techniques, flying often boils down to "someone sitting in a cramped cockpit somewhere, trying for all he's worth to figure out what meaning those clouds up ahead have for him." An understanding of how larger climatic forces affect each region's specific patterns can give that lone pilot the edge, and this edge is what Flying America's Weather is all about.