ICAO Vocabulary Level 6: Winter Weather Conditions

Every year when a first snowflake lands on the ground and the magical period of winter begins. In the aviation world, unfortunately, it is not associated with flawless dashing through the snow or Santa Claus smoothly landing with its sleigh on a runway. Chaos, confusion or unplanned flight delays or cancellations happen on a regular basis. Fortunately, every year small progress is made in order to reduce the number of situations that cause passengers’ frustration. The weather prediction is gradually becoming better, the ground services are working 24/7 in order to maintain the best conditions for landing and departing operations regardless of the size and capacity of an airport. Read the comprehensive wordlists included in this article that will surely help you improve your speaking performance.

Landing at Anchorage Ted Stevens International B737-800

Routine situation

– effective and smooth running of an airport = to keep an airport operating efficiently

– the scheduling of flights/scheduling issues/passenger flow

– airport -> major hubs

– further movements

– to work in close collaboration 24 hours a day to ensure

– on-site aviation meteorologists / onsite based aviation meteorologists

– a partnership with meteorological organization(s) / meteorological services

– to give a first-hand / up-to-the-minute information/ advice = to advise on (weather events, etc.)

– to adjust a schedule and keep the passengers informed

Non-Routine situation – Collocations

– To grind to a halt = to come to a halt

– to require snow clearance

– to impact an operation

– weather disruption

– a knock-on effect on delays at (JFK, Heathrow, Frankfurt, ect.)

– to minimize and successfully manage disruptions

– in-depth planning and coordination

– weather forecasting, infrastructure teams

– to maintain airports free from ice

– to strap down items for safety purposes

– grit / de-icing fluid

– to skid off a runway

– havoc (“The winter blast wreaked other kinds of havoc for airports and travelers in the region.” – Fox News)

The deicing procedure

Weather conditions

– snowplough (UK) = snowplow (US) = snow clearance vehicles

– specialist snow removal crews

– a significant snow event = falling or blowing snow

– frost

– snowstorm / blizzard / snowfall

– freezing drizzle/freezing rain

– a flurry of snow = a snow flurry

– near-freezing or below-freezing temperatures

– sleet

– a wintery mix of precipitation

– to reduce visibility

– the surface winds (https://www.wunderground.com/intellicast)

– ice assertion = ice formation on aircraft

– severe weather

If you want to know which words collocate best with, for example, ‘weather’ check my video tutorial on how to use Oxford Online Collocation Dictionary and get the best of it for you in order to improve your speaking/ writing performance.

Wintertime at an airport

Weather forecast

– an appropriate forecast

– a long- / a short-term forecast = a long-/ a short-term weather indications

– to cooperate closely in conjunction with aviation meteorologists

– international agencies such as the Met Office in the UK / work closely alongside the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) / MeteoFrance in France or Deutscher Wetterdienst in Germany

Summary

As always, I’d love to hear from you. Is there anything else I should have written about? Maybe you would add another paragraph if you were an author of this blog post? Let me know what your suggestions are – feel free to contact me here. If you find this or other ‘How to say it’ series useful, spread a positive word and share with somebody who may take advantage of it in order to pass an ICAO exam successfully.