Balloon pilot reported flying in unforecasted IFR conditions for about 15 minutes before finding a p...

Attributes
ACN	1374839
Time
Date	201607
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	Mixed
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Balloon
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Lighter-Than-Air
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 60 Flight Crew Total 320 Flight Crew Type 45
Events
Anomaly	Inflight Event / Encounter VFR In IMC Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Narrative:

When I arrived at the airfield the AWOS was reporting clear with 9 miles. I decided to fly. There was no mention of upcoming weather on any sources I use and I have never seen fog appear after I was flying in this area. I lifted off into class G airspace from the north side of the airfield [early in the morning]. Once I reached about 400 feet I noticed fog near the base of the mountain range to the east. Noticed the fog roll in very quickly. About 10 minutes after the tower opened the controller lost visual while I was still in his airspace. He asked my intentions. I told him I was planning on landing. He wanted me to notify after I was on the ground. I landed about 15 minutes later and called the tower. I was in IFR conditions for about 15 minutes while finding a spot to set down.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Balloon pilot reported flying in unforecasted IFR conditions for about 15 minutes before finding a place to land.

Narrative: When I arrived at the airfield the AWOS was reporting CLR with 9 miles. I decided to fly. There was no mention of upcoming weather on any sources I use and I have never seen fog appear after I was flying in this area. I lifted off into Class G airspace from the north side of the airfield [early in the morning]. Once I reached about 400 feet I noticed fog near the base of the mountain range to the east. Noticed the fog roll in very quickly. About 10 minutes after the Tower opened the Controller lost visual while I was still in his airspace. He asked my intentions. I told him I was planning on landing. He wanted me to notify after I was on the ground. I landed about 15 minutes later and called the Tower. I was in IFR conditions for about 15 minutes while finding a spot to set down.

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.