Air carrier captain reported a difference of opinion between himself and the controller involved as ...

Narrative:

During climb; we requested a deviation left for weather which was granted by ATC. Shortly after; we were given a new frequency. Upon checking in to the new controller; we communicated our altitude and that we were deviating left for weather. ATC acknowledged. Minutes later ATC requested us to turn right to 360 for traffic. Due to weather; we said we were unable. A couple of minutes later; ATC requested us again to turn even more; a right turn to 020. Again we stated unable due to weather. I also informed ATC that I had informed him of our heading due to weather on check in. He stated that; 'I know but I didn't know you were going to deviate for weather 30 miles away.' I then informed him that we had just deviated around weather a mile away as well.we had initially asked for the turn for weather and believed it would be a shorter deviation however; as we climbed; there were more cells that were building rapidly. If we were able to safely turn for ATC as requested; we would have; however in this instance; it would have jeopardized the safety of the flight. Therefore; we were unable to comply with the instruction/request; to turn.ATC continually informs pilots that ask ATC for help around thunder cells; that ATC radar is very limited in detecting intensity of weather. That should be something to consider before jumping to conclusions that a crew is being over dramatic about weather and avoiding a cell by 30 miles when in fact; there were many other cells ATC clearly didn't see; that we did see. Though not as intense as the one he saw on his radar; many of the cells we were avoiding could have posed a risk; and warranted the deviation.in over 20 years of flying I have never had this type of experience; with ATC continually attempting to steer me into severe weather for traffic that had to be at least 20 miles away. Nothing even remotely close to our path was on our TCAS. He could have descended us; stopped our climb; turned us 180 degrees to the left; but not a turn into thunder cells to our right.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Captain reported a difference of opinion between himself and the Controller involved as to the necessity to deviate around weather that the Controller could not see.

Narrative: During climb; we requested a deviation left for weather which was granted by ATC. Shortly after; we were given a new frequency. Upon checking in to the new controller; we communicated our altitude and that we were deviating left for weather. ATC acknowledged. Minutes later ATC requested us to turn right to 360 for traffic. Due to weather; we said we were unable. A couple of minutes later; ATC requested us again to turn even more; a right turn to 020. Again we stated unable due to weather. I also informed ATC that I had informed him of our heading due to weather on check in. He stated that; 'I know but I didn't know you were going to deviate for weather 30 miles away.' I then informed him that we had just deviated around weather a mile away as well.We had initially asked for the turn for weather and believed it would be a shorter deviation however; as we climbed; there were more cells that were building rapidly. If we were able to safely turn for ATC as requested; we would have; however in this instance; it would have jeopardized the safety of the flight. Therefore; we were unable to comply with the instruction/request; to turn.ATC continually informs pilots that ask ATC for help around thunder cells; that ATC radar is very limited in detecting intensity of weather. That should be something to consider before jumping to conclusions that a crew is being over dramatic about weather and avoiding a cell by 30 miles when in fact; there were many other cells ATC clearly didn't see; that we did see. Though not as intense as the one he saw on his radar; many of the cells we were avoiding could have posed a risk; and warranted the deviation.In over 20 years of flying I have never had this type of experience; with ATC continually attempting to steer me into severe weather for traffic that had to be at least 20 miles away. Nothing even remotely close to our path was on our TCAS. He could have descended us; stopped our climb; turned us 180 degrees to the left; but not a turn into thunder cells to our right.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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	1411503
Time
Date	201612
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 220 Flight Crew Total 13000 Flight Crew Type 500
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Air carrier captain reported a difference of opinion between himself and the controller involved as to the necessity to deviate around weather that the controller could not see.