Narrative:

Upon check on of aircraft X; the pilot said that he did not have weather radar on board and that any vectors would be appreciated. I explained the area of precipitation to him at his 12 o'clock and that it was indicating moderate to heavy precipitation. Pilot acknowledged and asked if I had any recommendations; which I stated that I haven't had anybody in his area but I was worried about weather around greensboro which I issued a new route to help avoid. When the aircraft was within 5 miles of the issued ban of weather; my nexrad updated to indicate an extreme precipitation area on the western side of previously issued cell; and I told aircraft X to fly a heading of 360 to avoid. Pilot said that he immediately encountered and updraft of 300 feet. I released altitude to his discretion as it was available. Upon exit of cell; pilot said he encountered severe turbulence; +300 feet and +/- 20kts. An urgent PIREP was filed. I know it's impossible at this stage; but a continuously updating weather radar would be extremely beneficial in this situation and many others where we need to provide service to airplanes without weather radar on board. Until that happens; I will vector these airplanes into areas of no depicted precipitation in order to avoid the previous situation.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZDC Controller described a severe weather encounter and unsafe situation by a General Aviation aircraft being vectored. The reporter indicated that improved weather information for ATC is critical.

Narrative: Upon check on of Aircraft X; the pilot said that he did not have weather RADAR on board and that any vectors would be appreciated. I explained the area of precipitation to him at his 12 o'clock and that it was indicating moderate to heavy precipitation. Pilot acknowledged and asked if I had any recommendations; which I stated that I haven't had anybody in his area but I was worried about weather around Greensboro which I issued a new route to help avoid. When the aircraft was within 5 miles of the issued ban of weather; my NEXRAD updated to indicate an extreme precipitation area on the western side of previously issued cell; and I told Aircraft X to fly a heading of 360 to avoid. Pilot said that he immediately encountered and updraft of 300 feet. I released altitude to his discretion as it was available. Upon exit of cell; pilot said he encountered severe turbulence; +300 feet and +/- 20kts. An urgent PIREP was filed. I know it's impossible at this stage; but a continuously updating weather RADAR would be extremely beneficial in this situation and many others where we need to provide service to airplanes without weather RADAR on board. Until that happens; I will vector these airplanes into areas of no depicted precipitation in order to avoid the previous situation.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.