Narrative:

The mission was a helicopter flight to pick up a passenger and return him to ZZZ. The weather was reporting good VFR conditions (approximately 2500 ft and 10 miles) with the chance of light snow showers enroute but conditions were forecast to be VFR all along the route. There was an airmet for icing above 3000 ft. Enroute; we did encounter the snow showers and they caused the ceiling and visibility to drop. Since it was a very dark night; it is hard to say what the ceiling and visibility were; but they were lower than expected. We made the decision as a crew to terminate the flight and return to our base. To me; turning around and descending into lower than forecast weather was a poor option; so I made the decision to contact center and obtain an IFR clearance to ZZZ1. I requested 3000 ft back direct to ZZZ1. I knew there was a chance we would encounter some ice; but to me that possibility was far better than descending. We were quickly given a clearance by center and made a climbing turn toward ZZZ1. At the time we requested and received the clearance; we were in good VFR conditions. On the way back; we did pick up some light ice but we were in and out of those conditions quickly. We were handed off to approach and made a visual approach to ZZZ1. The ice we picked up was mostly shed as we descended to land. Our aircraft is very well equipped for IFR flight but not for flight into icing. To me; many helicopter accidents have been caused by trying to remain VFR in poor weather. We did not become a statistic because we had the ability to get a clearance and climb rather than struggle to stay VFR. Thank you to center for the prompt and professional way they helped us with this situation.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: As the weather deteriorates below that forecast; a helicopter pilot decides to divert to a nearby airport.

Narrative: The mission was a helicopter flight to pick up a passenger and return him to ZZZ. The weather was reporting good VFR conditions (approximately 2500 ft and 10 miles) with the chance of light snow showers enroute but conditions were forecast to be VFR all along the route. There was an AIRMET for icing above 3000 ft. Enroute; we did encounter the snow showers and they caused the ceiling and visibility to drop. Since it was a very dark night; it is hard to say what the ceiling and visibility were; but they were lower than expected. We made the decision as a crew to terminate the flight and return to our base. To me; turning around and descending into lower than forecast weather was a poor option; so I made the decision to contact Center and obtain an IFR clearance to ZZZ1. I requested 3000 ft back direct to ZZZ1. I knew there was a chance we would encounter some ice; but to me that possibility was far better than descending. We were quickly given a clearance by Center and made a climbing turn toward ZZZ1. At the time we requested and received the clearance; we were in good VFR conditions. On the way back; we did pick up some light ice but we were in and out of those conditions quickly. We were handed off to Approach and made a visual approach to ZZZ1. The ice we picked up was mostly shed as we descended to land. Our aircraft is very well equipped for IFR flight but not for flight into icing. To me; many helicopter accidents have been caused by trying to remain VFR in poor weather. We did not become a statistic because we had the ability to get a clearance and climb rather than struggle to stay VFR. Thank you to Center for the prompt and professional way they helped us with this situation.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of May 2009 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.