There are so many environmental factors that play a role in aircraft performance. Most people know the big ones, sometimes referred to as the three H's, Heat, High, and Humidity. Meaning temperature, elevation, and humidity. Although these are the core of aeronautical environmental factors, one that is commonly missed, and often times the cause of many aircraft accidents, is atmospheric environmental factors. These would be your weather conditions.
Weather conditions are something that anyone who has had a flight cancelled on them can relate to. These factors can include, but are not limited to, thunderstorms, rain, hail, fog, ice, wind, lightning, tornadoes, hurricanes, you name it. All of these conditions are not only always changing and therefore unpredictable, but they are often times the cause of many aviation accidents because of the uncertainty and lack of experience in different situations.
Thunderstorms bring a whole mess of issues with them including destroying runways with the amount of rain and therefore water on the runway leading to flooding or icing making it impossible to land or takeoff safely. Rain can also cause many issues with the aircraft, leading to icing the aircraft, visibility problems for the pilot and for ground, and it drastically changes one of those H's (Humidity). Then you also have the issue of lightning that is a whole other beast of a problem to deal with.
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