Originally Posted by
Riverside
Tell me how does an area forecast tell you that an airport is IFR or VFR or not? Just because it say NRN Ca broken at 1800 doesn't mean that the airport is going to be the same as depicted. So if it don't have a TAF expect to descend from MEA in VFR and land in VFR. That would be my best guess.
An area forecast tells you the weather conditions of an area...if the area that your planned airport is in has cloud or visibility requirements that require an alternate, than you must file one accordingly. For this reason if bad weather plagues a state they break up the area forecasts more definitive than they do in good weather.
For example...
A good weather day may have:
TN...SKC OCNL SCT CI. OTLK...VFR.
Whereas a bad weather day may have:
W TN...SCT 050-070 VIS P6SM. OTLK...VFR.
NRN MID TN...BKN 005-014 VIS 1-3SM. OTLK...MVFR.
SRN MID TN...OVC 004-020 BR OCNL +RA VIS 1-3SM. OTLK...IFR.
E TN...BKN 025-050 VIS 3-5SM. AFTR 05Z ISOL -TSRA NRN HALF. OTLK...VFR.
TAFs are all well and good if you are flying to an airport with one, but if not then Alternate requirements and Alternate airport minimums (if allowed on the chart) must be taken from the FA.