Google Earth is an amazing tool for visualizing the world we fly in. Pair it with some of the great open source overlays out there and you've got a kick ass pre-flight intelligence tool. av8rdan has put together a nice outline showing you how to throw some NOAA weather data on top of the map. It's pretty straightforward, and if you're tech savvy enough you can pair this with your proposed flight path giving you an idea of what you're in for.

via av8rdan