Daily PIREP Counts

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Pilot Reports (PIREP) are generated by aviators as they denote hazardous conditions along their flight paths. This is akin to how you can now make vehicle driving reports via your smart phone of traffic delays, road hazards, or accidents. The IEM collects these PIREP reports and makes a downloadable archive available along with a few analysis tools. The featured chart is one such tool displaying daily counts of total PIREPs over the US and parts of Canada. These reports are partitioned by report type with icing and turbulence being the primary ones. Of interest is the dip in icing reports during the summer months as such conditions are frequent with the troposphere in its warmest state and icing conditions more isolated to convective clouds, which are generally avoided by planes.