Introduction 

Jet stream and current or forecast wind and temperature information 

In this topic, you learn how to work with the Jet Stream Forecast and the Current and Forecast winds and temperature weather layers that are part of a regional weather subscription. 

We estimate that this will take 7 minutes to complete.

Detailed explanation 

Using the Jet Stream Forecast and the Current and Forecast winds and temperature layers

Enable or disable weather layers on the REGIONAL tab for those regions for which you have a weather information subscription. For example, some airlines may enable radar images for Europe, but not for the U.S.

 In this topic, learn how to work with the following weather layers:

• Jet Streams Forecasts: direction, speed and location of the jet stream
• Forecast winds and temperature: forecast winds and temperature aloft and areas of high winds
• Current winds and temperature: current winds and temperature aloft

Click the Layers menu button.

Click the REGIONAL tab.

Click the Jet Streams Forecast slider.

Hover your mouse over one of the depicted jet streams, such as the one along the west coast of Chile and N-Tracking displays details on altitude and wind speed. At 33,000 feet, wind speed is 100 knots.

Hover your mouse over the northern part of the depicted jet stream and you learn that the jet stream has moved up in altitude and that wind speed in this region is slightly less, 90 knots. 

Use this same technique of hovering your mouse over any depicted jet stream to learn how long the forecast remains valid and the wind speed at altitudes of interest to you. 

Leaving the Jet Streams Forecast layer enabled, let's enable the Current winds and temperature layer. 

Click the Current winds and temperature slider.

By default, current winds and temperature is shown for flight level 050. You can change this.

Enable the Wind Areas  layer to depict map areas where there are high wind speeds. Areas of low wind speeds are not colored. 

Click the Wind Areas slider.

At a flight level (FL) of 5,000 feet, no areas of high winds are depicted.

Click the plus (+) button and increase flight level (FL) to 300 and see the difference. 

HINT 

You can use the  control to increase or decrease the flight level, as needed.

Click the plus (+) button.

Review the bands of progressively faster wind speeds depicted by colors in yellow through red.

The lightest band depicts wind speeds in the range of 70 to 100 knots, while the darkest color (not shown in this example) signals wind speeds in the range of 130 to 160 knots.
 

HINT 

The color progression (yellow through orange, through red) is slightly affected by the underlying water and land colors.
 In this example, yellow appears greenish and orange appears caramel-colored.

Now that you can see the areas in which various wind speeds are encountered, enable the Winds & Temps Aloft layer for more detailed information. 

Click the Winds & Temps Aloft slider.

When you zoom in, wait a few moments to allow N-Tracking some time to re-draw the barbs for the new zoom level.   

Click the Zoom in (+) button.

Enable the Winds and Temps Aloft layer to display winds and temperature using a presentation called "wind barbs." The barbs show both wind speed and direction on a single icon. The following table explains the wind barbs.
The number on the wind barb represents the temperature. The direction indicates where the wind is coming from.For example:  indicates the wind is from the West, blowing towards the East at 130 knots.

HINT 

If you find reading the wind barbs over certain colors challenging, consider using the Brightness slider on the GENERAL tab to lighten the water and land colors. 

Hover your mouse over one of the numbered wind barbs to learn the relevant wind speed and when the wind forecast remains in effect.

If you click a wind barb in an area where another weather layer is active (such as in this example, where the global turbulence forecast is enabled), you see details for both of those weather layers and the Weather pane opens in the upper right.

Click a wind barb in the highlighted red zone.
  

You have a choice between clicking your mouse to view the information presented in the Weather pane or hovering your mouse over the weather phenomenon to see details directly on-screen.

You must click X to close the Weather pane.

Click the X (Close) button.

Click the Layers menu button.

Disable the Current winds and temperature layer and review how the Forecast winds and temperature layer works. 

Click the Current winds and temperature slider.

Click the Forecast winds and temperature slider.

Notice the default settings for this layer -- show wind areas for flight level 010 for the next 6 hours. 

Click the Wind Areas slider.

After you enable the Wind Areas layer, you can use the controls to change both the flight level (FL) and the number of hours in the future you want to see forecast winds.

Change the zoom to get a higher level over of wind activity. 

Click the Zoom out (-) button.

At a zoom level of 500 nm, you can get a better sense of the wind areas colored yellow, orange, and red, and because you left the Jet Stream Forecast layer enabled, you can analyze wind activity in combination with the wind activity. 

Use the FL control (+) and change the flight level to 30,000 feet -- the same view for which you just reviewed current conditions. 

Click the FL + button.

Click the Winds & Temps Aloft slider.

Now, you can hover your mouse over or click any of the temperatures or wind barbs for more detailed information, using the same technique you used with the Current winds and temperature layer. 

Previously, you learned about using the Brightness slider on the GENERAL tab to increase the contrast between the wind information and the map background.

 Try that now. 

Click the GENERAL tab.

For this example, click to the right of the Brightness knob to lighten the background colors. 

Click the Brightness slider.

Click anywhere on the map to close the Layers pane. 

Click anywhere on the map.

At this brightness setting, you may find the temperatures and wind barbs easier to read.

 As you've seen throughout this topic, hover near a wind barb or over a wind area and you can review details about wind speed and the validity of the forecast. 

For the area in the central caramel-covered band, wind speed forecast for the next 6  hours is 100 to 130 knots at FL 300.

SUCCESS 

 Congratulations! You have successfully used the Jet Stream Forecast and both the Current and Forecast Winds & Temps weather layers to add information to the map to assist in your flight tracking and planning.