When I was leaving CYYZ Toronto today with this weather copied from the log...DEPARTURE WX:CYYZ 121300Z 09003KT 15SM FEW040 SCT260 16/06 A3018 RMK SC1CI0 HZ ALF SC TR SLP220CYYZ 120839Z 120906 VRB03KT P6SM SCT240 BECMG 1315 10010KT FM0400Z 10006KT P6SM BKN080 RMK NXT FCST BY 12ZENROUTE WX:CYKZ 121300Z 00000KT 15SM FEW250 16/05 A3018 RMK CI1 SLP220CYYZ 120839Z 120906 VRB03KT P6SM SCT240 BECMG 1315 10010KT FM0400Z 10006KT P6SM BKN080 RMK NXT FCST BY 12ZCYPQ 121300Z 27003KT 15SM FEW250 15/06 A3019 RMK CI1 SLP225CYTR 120530Z 120606 VRB03KT P6SM SKC BECMG 1820 22010KT FM0100Z VRB03KT P6SM BKN250 RMK NXT FCST BY 12Z... there was thunder during my preflight and lightning west of the field. Climbing through five thousand straight out from 06L (the opposite direction), encountered rain in clear air with a single cumulus cloud formation not built above 12 thousand at nine o'clock about a mile.Had the same issues in and out of YSSY Sydney not long ago. With a similar forecast, went to minimums in a rain shower.FS9 weather is zapped in the game and by FSUIPC. Extend Thunderstorm Layers is not checked.Got hit by lightning once getting vectored between cells, so I can get a bit spooked.Falcon307Dave Wilkins

Hi Dave,That is very strange. I have never seen that or had anyone else write about it. Is your Force Thunderstorms with CB On? Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

No, thunderstorms with CB is not checked.Thanks for the response. I'm thinking it will happen again - maybe out of CYUL tonight - and I'll get more data.Dave Falcon307

I believe I've found the problem causing lightning and thunder from non-CB clouds. Chris Lawrence created some very nice improvements to the lightning effects with his file fslightn.zip on Avsim, but it seems to be overjealous about when to create lightning. I've gone back to FS9 files, and my lightning issue has been resolved.Dave WilkinsFalcon307

Thanks Dave for the information!Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg