What is the effect of heavy precipitation on visibility for VFR operations?

• A. It increases visibility.
• B. It has no effect on VFR minima.
• C. It reduces visibility and can indicate lower ceilings, impacting VFR minima.
• D. It always requires immediate IFR clearance.

Answer: (C)

Heavy precipitation reduces the distance you can see and, importantly, often signals lower cloud bases. For VFR flight you must meet minimum visibility and cloud clearance; when heavy rain or snowfall lowers visibility and accompanies lower ceilings, you’re more likely to fall below those VFR minimums. That means you may not be able to continue under VFR and would need to adjust plans, either by delaying, routing around the weather, or operating under IFR if conditions require it. It’s not true that precipitation improves visibility, and it doesn’t automatically require IFR—only if the actual conditions fail to meet VFR minima.