TEXTBOOKS, SELF-STUDY programs, and instructors have done a pretty good job of passing along the basics of METAR interpretation. Most of us can rattle off a raw METARs without resorting to the decoded version of these hourly reports of the weather at many-not all-airports. It wasn't always that way. When METARs replaced the earlier surface reports (SAs) in 1996 there was a lot of brouhaha and a steep learning curve. Same thing with the switch from terminal forecasts (FTs) to today's TAFs. All of this in the name of establishing a world standard of weather reports. However, most pilots haven't been educated in some METARs' more infrequently used coded abbreviations. Particularly those from sites having automated weather observing capability. You know, the additional reporting codes that follow the core report of date and time, surface wind, visibility, current weather, cloud conditions, temperature/dew point, and altimeter setting. Sometimes instructors will blow these off by saying, "Oh, you don't need to know them. It's for meteorologists." True, in the strictest sense. Most of us accept this advice. Others are curious about these seemingly odd collections of numbers. So, let's delve into them.
展开▼
