I tried finding thunderstorms today and… I found it! Steps that I took:
- Found a website with real time lightning information and found some around Florida. Note that I took this screenshot of the website after the flight: things had moved in the mean time.
- Checked airports in the vicinity: chose Naples. The trail shows how I flew around in the storm
- Loaded the sim and checked Naples real time weather. Hey presto, showed thunderstorms!
- Loaded the flight and indeed: there was lightning! I did not catch a bolt of lightning in a screenshot but they were there. In keeping with my recent luck, there was a very strong wind, fortunately pretty much aligned with the runway. Again I saw IAS come alive while lined up on the runway. Note the 26+kts indicated while still stationary. More about that for my return to Naples afterwards…
Full overcast up to 10,000ft, where I decided to call it a day
Decided to look up a suitable approach for Naples and headed back for RNAV Rwy 23. Had to dive down manually to get on the right altitude for the IAF as I was too close to the airport when I dialed in the approach. But it all worked out fine in the end.
But just look at that wind!
Man, was I glad when I finally broke through! Really pushing the minimums there…
The landing was hairy! Turned out the wind was gusting heavily and swinging around quite a bit.