From 1994 through 2003, impacted ceiling and visibility (C&V) was the second-most prevalent cause of weather-related accidents in the United States. These C&V-related accidents predominantly affect the general aviation and commuter/air taxi communities, and can frequently be avoided if existing weather data from a variety of sources is more effectively used in the pilot pre-flight and in-flight decision-making processes.

In this paper we introduce a new real-time ConUS C&V analysis product that is planned for release to the aviation community via adds.aviationweather.noaa.gov in early 2008. The product combines METAR surface observations and GOES satellite cloud information to yield an analysis of ConUS C&V conditions on a high-resolution (5 km) grid. The analysis presents ceiling, visibility and flight category fields, as well as a low vs. normal confidence assessment for each field. All fields are refreshed at 5-minute frequency to maximize current data representativeness. This paper outlines the data processing utilized in product generation, a statistical overview of product skill, and a demonstration of product displays outlining hazardous C&V conditions.