Often asked: How To Read Aviation Weather Metars?

How do you decode a Metar?

To decode, place a “10” or “9” before the first digit (use a 9 if the 3-digit value is 500 or more), and place a decimal point before the last digit. The sea level pressure remark in the above example would read “current sea level pressure of 1003.4 millibars.”

What are Metars and TAFS?

METAR stands for Meteorological Aerodrome Report. TAF stands for Terminal Aerodrome Forecast. It is a report released by large airports that summarizes the weather forecast for the area covered by five statute miles from the location of the airport.

What do the numbers at the end of a Metar mean?

The first three numbers, “350” indicate the wind direction it’s coming from. The next two numbers, “45” indicate the wind speed in knots. The number after the slash is the time after the hour. The “20” in this case means the peak wind happened at 20 past the hour.

How do I read a TAF report?

The date and time are formatted using two sets of four digits each with the first two digits representing the day of the month and the second two the 24-hour time in hours only (no minutes since TAFS are issued on the hour). The first set of digits is the start date/time and the second is the end date/time.

How long is a TAF valid?

Routine TAFs are valid for a 24-hour period and issued four times daily: 00Z, 06Z, 12Z, and 18Z, and are amended (updated) as conditions require.

What does P mean in Metar?

P. indicates greater than the highest reportable value. PCPN. precipitation.

What does V mean in Metar?

V – Varying. VIRGA – Virga. VRB – Variable. VRB VIS – Variable Visibility. VV – Vertical Visibility, indefinite ceiling.

What does Shra mean in a TAF?

1. The weather groups shall be constructed by considering columns 1 to 5 in the table above in sequence, i.e. intensity, followed by description, followed by weather phenomena, e.g. heavy rain shower(s) is coded as + SHRA 2. To denote moderate intensity no entry or symbol is used.

What is a G Airmet?

A G – AIRMET is a graphical advisory of weather that may be hazardous to aircraft, but are less severe than SIGMETs. They are only valid at specific time “snapshots”. Forecasters create graphical objects depicting the areas and attributes of AIRMET hazards, which are distributed in BUFR file format.

What does METARs stand for?

METAR is the international standard code format for hourly surface weather observations which is analogous to the SA coding currently used in the US. The acronym roughly translates from French as Aviation Routine Weather Report.

What does a dollar sign mean in a Metar?

The dollar sign at the end of a METAR indicates that the station has self-identified itself as needing maintenance.

How much area does a Metar cover?

An automated METAR with no human supervision covers the conditions within approximately 6 inches of the weather station reporting it (for example, a badly positioned AWOS/ASOS station may be shielded from wind in some directions which affects what it reports).