Quick Answer: What Is Aviation Weather Report Called?

What are aviation weather reports?

Aviation weather reports are designed to give accurate depictions of current weather conditions. Each report provides current information that is updated at different times. Some typical reports are METARs and PIREPs. A METAR is an observation of current surface weather reported in a standard international format.

What is a Taf and Metar?

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. TAF is the international standard code format for terminal forecasts issued for airports.

What are the two types of Metar reports?

There are two types of METAR reports. The first is the routine METAR report that is transmitted every hour. The second is the aviation selected special weather report (SPECI).

What is a TAF in aviation?

The Terminal Area Forecast ( TAF ) is the official FAA forecast of aviation activity for U.S. airports. It contains active airports in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems ( NPIAS ) including FAA-towered airports, Federal contract-towered airports, non-federal towered airports, and non-towered airports.

How do you read aviation weather reports?

The first two digits are the date, the 16th of the month, and the last four digits are the time of the METAR, which is always given in coordinated universal time (UTC), otherwise known as Zulu time. A “Z” is appended to the end of the time to denote that the time is given in Zulu time (UTC) as opposed to local time.

What is weather depiction chart?

A weather depiction chart details surface conditions as derived from METAR and other surface observations. The weather depiction chart is prepared and transmitted by computer every 3 hours beginning at 0100Z time and is valid data for the forecast period.

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 Cavok mean?

The Visibility, Cloud, and Weather groups are replaced by the term CAVOK (cloud and visibility OK) when the following conditions exist simultaneously: Visibility is 10km or more.

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 do pilots use for weather?

ATIS – Automatic Terminal Information Service is the one used by the larger, busier airports. It will consist of its own frequency that pilots can tune to and listen to the latest weather. Air Traffic Control & ATIS/AWOS.

Altimeter Setting	Bravo
Temperature	15 °C
Dew point	8 °C
Altimeter Setting	29.92 inHg

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What is an urgent Pirep?

The following weather phenomena shall be classified as an URGENT (UUA) PIREP: 1. Tornadoes, funnel clouds, or waterspouts. 2. Severe or extreme turbulence (including clear air turbulence).

Is Metar AGL or MSL?

Height is important, especially in the mountains. Remember, METAR and TAF report the height of clouds AGL, not MSL.

How do you read an aviation TAF?

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 do you write a TAF?

Format:

1. TAFs are issued in the following format: [Type of Report] [ICAO Station Identifier] [Date and Time of Origin] [Valid Period Date and Time] [Forecast Meteorological Conditions]
2. Forecast date and time of origin in the TAF are depicted in two ways:
3. TAFs use the same codes as METAR weather reports.