BE33 pilot describes using xm weather in flight to determine that continuing to destination was not ...

Narrative:

Departed traverse city (tvc) with toledo express (tol) as destination with alternate jackson; mi. Ultimate destination was new jersey after fuel stop and an opportunity to look at and assess updated weather. En route from tvc to tol; we contacted flight watch for update on akron (cak) weather which would have been closer to a half-way point between tvc and new jersey destination but still behind a line of thunderstorms east of that location. Current and forecast weather at akron had improved from an earlier briefing we received so we requested a change of destination from toledo to akron with lansing approach. While en route; we monitored xm weather and at the top of the hour (13:00); metars showed ceiling at cak had dropped to 600 overcast. We elected not to continue and requested diversion back to original destination toledo express (tol). This request was made to toledo approach and we advised that we were electing to go to the better weather conditions in toledo; take on fuel and within 90 minutes or so; make a decision about continuing the flight. Storms strengthened into a line that was in central PA between our location and home airport so we elected to stay overnight in toledo and continued the flight the following day.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: BE33 pilot describes using XM weather in flight to determine that continuing to destination was not advisable and that deviating to TOL to spend the night was the best option.

Narrative: Departed Traverse City (TVC) with Toledo Express (TOL) as destination with alternate Jackson; MI. Ultimate destination was New Jersey after fuel stop and an opportunity to look at and assess updated weather. En route from TVC to TOL; we contacted Flight Watch for update on Akron (CAK) weather which would have been closer to a half-way point between TVC and New Jersey destination but still behind a line of thunderstorms east of that location. Current and forecast weather at Akron had improved from an earlier briefing we received so we requested a change of destination from Toledo to Akron with Lansing Approach. While en route; we monitored XM weather and at the top of the hour (13:00); METARS showed ceiling at CAK had dropped to 600 overcast. We elected not to continue and requested diversion back to original destination Toledo Express (TOL). This request was made to Toledo Approach and we advised that we were electing to go to the better weather conditions in Toledo; take on fuel and within 90 minutes or so; make a decision about continuing the flight. Storms strengthened into a line that was in central PA between our location and home airport so we elected to stay overnight in Toledo and continued the flight the following day.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1028936
Time
Date	201208
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	TOL.Airport
State Reference	OH
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Bonanza 33
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Private Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 17.7 Flight Crew Total 1048 Flight Crew Type 648
Events
Anomaly	Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

BE33 pilot describes using xm weather in flight to determine that continuing to destination was not advisable and that deviating to tol to spend the night was the best option.