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Cate: Flying over large bodies of water is dangerous. The main danger is having to ditch and then being found. In your part of the country the water is warm and so chances are that, done properly, you will be ok ditching. The problem comes in being found. You're a small speck in a large area. In my part of the country, Wisconsin, the water is cold even in summer. Every year planes go down in Lake Michigan. Unfortunately, there are few survivors because even in summer the water temperature is less than 60 deg. F. So in about 20 minutes you can't move and you drown or hypothermia gets you. Good news is over water I have usually found the air to be less turbulent than over land. This is because alot of the turbulance at lower altitudes is caused by terrain and differential heating of the ground. Over water the surface is smooth and the heating is fairly uniform unless you have patchy clouds. Best advice on crossing large bodies of water in a small plane is if you can't get enough altitude to glide to shore then go around the water. That is what most people do here when going to Michigan.
The snow here tends to be wetter than that in Colorado. Thus, I try never to fly into or through a snow shower as there is a good chance the plane will ice up. Another thing to remember is always make sure that any frost is off the wings and stabilizers before you depart. Frost may look harmless but it can really destroy a wings lift.
As your training progresses you will learn about things like the above. The main thing to concentrate on at this stage is to learn to fly the plane and gain confidence in your abilities. Good luck.
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