WEATHER INFORMATION FOR AVIATION

There are 3 categories of information available to

the pilots
1. Actual or current information
2. Forecast information
3. Warnings
Actual or current information includes
METAR ( routine Met report of current weather
conditions at the aerodrome)
SPECI (selected special weather report of
aerodrome under certain specific conditions)
SPECIAL ( special weather reports issued to air
traffic control unit under specific conditions)

WEATHER INFORMATION FOR AVIATION

Forecast information includes
TAFOR ( Terminal aerodrome forecast of Met
conditions)
Takeoff forecast ( forecast of Met conditions at
the aerodrome at the time of takeoff)
Landing forecast ( forecast of Met conditions at
the destination aerodrome)
ARFOR ( area forecast)
ROFOR (Route forecast)
WINTEM ( Upper level wind and temperature
forecast)
Local forecast

WEATHER INFORMATION FOR

AVIATION (contd)
Warnings:
1. SIGMET ( significant weather warnings in
the flight information region - FIR )
2. Airfield or aerodrome warnings
3. Wind shear warnings

CURRENT INFORMATION
METAR (Aviation Routine Weather Report):
It is the current weather report at an aerodrome
It is issued by the Met Office every half an hour
In plain language, it is called Meteorological
Report and is issued to ATC unit
In coded form, it is called METAR for transmission
outside the aerodrome of origin

ELEMENTS INCLUDED IN METAR

1. Date and time
2. Station name
3. Wind direction and speed
4. Visibility
5. Present weather
6. Amount of significant cloud layers with height of
base of the clouds
7. Dry bulb temperature and dew point temperature
8. QNH
9. Trend forecast
Wind direction and speed are the average value over
10 minute period immediately preceding the time of
observation.

METAR CODE (ROUTINE MET

REPORT)
METAR

CCCC

{Kt, KMH or MPS}

YYGGggZ ddd ffG fmfm

VVVVDv

R DRDR/ VRVRVRVRi

(or CAVOK )

WW

Ns Ns Ns hshshs

TT/TdTd

QPHPHPHPH

METAR CODE (ROUTINE MET

REPORT)

METAR :
Aviation routine weather report
CCCC :
Aerodrome call sign
YYGGggz : Date and time in UTC
dddff :
Mean wind speed and direction
Gfmfm :
Maximum wind speed
VVVV :
Visibility in meters i : tendency of VV change
Dv :
Direction of visibility when VV varies in different
directions
W W :
Present weather with intensity
Ns Ns N s :
individual significant cloud amounts
hshshs :
height of base of clouds in units of 30 meters
rounded off on the lower side
TT :
Dry bulb temperature in C
TdTd :
Dew point temperature in C
QPHPHPHPH : QNH value in hPa rounded off on lower side

METAR

METAR EXAMPLE
VOMM 110440Z 09010 KT

SCT020

30/23

6000

Q1009

Decoding of the METAR

METAR :
Aviation Routine Weather Report
Aerodrome:
Chennai
Date : 11 Time 0440Z
Wind direction : Easterly
Wind speed :
10 Kt
Clouds :
3- 4 oktas of cloud at 600 meters
Visibility :
6000 meters
Dry bulb temp : 30C
Dew point temp 23 C
QNH :
1009 hPa

IMPORTANT POINTS IN METAR

Visibility is given in steps of 50 m up to 800m,
steps of 100 m between 800 and 5000 m and
steps of 1000m between 5000m up to 9999 m
and rounded off on lower side

VV > 10 km is reported as 9999

i , the tendency of change in RVR is reported by

U (upward),D (downward) or N (no change). It
is omitted when the trend cannot be
ascertained

IMPORTANT POINTS IN METAR

The term CAVOK (Ceiling and visibility o.k ) is

used when

1) VV : 10 km or more
2) No cloud below 1500 m (5000 ft)
3) No significant weather phenomena

CAVOK is to be used after wind group only if all

the three CAVOK conditions are satisfied

SKC indicates that the sky is clear

IMPORTANT POINTS (contd)

Clouds
Only 3 layers of cloud can be reported (1,3,5 rule)
If CB is present , it can be reported as an additional
layer irrespective of the amount of the cloud
Cloud base is reported above aerodrome elevation
and in units of 30 m and in the order of increasing
heights
Cloud amount :
1-2 oktas denoted by FEW
3-4 oktas denoted by SCT (scattered)
5-7 oktas denoted by BKN (broken)
8 oktas denoted by OVC (overcast)

SIGNIFICANT PRESENT AND

FORECAST WEATHER CODE
Intensity
Descriptor
Precipitation
- Light
MI - Shallow
DZ- Drizzle
No Qualifier:
BC- Patches
RA- Rain
( Moderate)
+ Heavy
DR- Drifting
SN- Snow
BL- Blowing
IC- Ice crystals
SH- Showers
GR- Hail
TS- Thunderstorm GS- Small Hail
FZ- Freezing
BR- Mist
FG- Fog

SIGNIFICANT PRESENT AND

FORECAST WEATHER CODE(contd)
Descriptor

FU Smoke
VA Volcanic ash
DU - Dust
SA - Sand
HZ Haze
SQ- Squall
SS- Sand storm
FC- Funnel cloud
DS- Dust storm
SKC- Sky clear

IMPORTANT POINTS (contd)

QNH is given as whole integer without decimal.
For QNH , the decimal rounding off is done to the
lower integer value. e.g. 1000.6 hPa is rounded
off and reported as 1000
Wind direction is rounded off to the nearest 10.
Calm wind is reported as 00000. VRB indicates
variable wind. Wind speed greater than 99 or >=
100 kt is reported as P99
Temperature is rounded off to the nearest whole
C. 0.5 C is rounded off to the next higher C
value. Negative temp are indicated by use of the
letter M. For example 05C is reported as M 05
(M-Minus)

AN EXAMPLE OF METAR
AERODROME MUMBAI Date : 22 TIME : 0400 Z
VISIBILITY : 7550 m
Weather : Heavy rain
WINDS DIRECTION 275 deg WIND SPEED : 09 Kt
CLOUDS 2 okta
ST at 290 m
3 okta SC at 600 m
8 okta AS at 3000 m
DRY BULB TEMP 24.2 C
DEW POINT TEMP 21.5 C QNH
1003.6 hPa
CODED METAR
METAR VABB 220400Z 28009KT 7000 + RA
FEW 009 SCT 020 OVC 100 24/22 Q1003

DECODING OF METAR
METAR VABB 230400Z VRB03 KT CAVOK 27/21

Q1006
Aerodrome Bombay
Wind speed 03 kt

Date 23 time 0400 Z

wind direction Variable

Visibility 10 km
Cloud : no cloud below 1.5 km ( 5000 ft)
Weather : no significant weather
Dry bulb temperature : 27 C
Dew point temperature ; 21 C
QNH : 1006 hPa

DECODING OF METAR ( contd)

METAR VABB 060430Z 27016G26 KT 6000
TSRA FEW 008 FEW 010CB SCT 019
OVC 100 24/22 Q1004
Aerodrome : Bombay Date 06 Time : 0430 UTC
Wind direction : 270 Wind speed : 16 kt
Max wind : 26 kt
Visibility: 6000 m
Present weather: Thunderstorm and rain
Clouds : 1-2 oktas ht 240 m 1-2 okta CB ht 300 m
3- 4 oktas ht 570m
8 okta ht 3000 m
Dry bulb temp: 24 C Dew point temp 22 C
QNH : 1004 hPa

VOLMET BROADCAST
These broadcasts are made at fixed time through
High Frequency radio waves( HF) from Mumbai
and Kolkata
They contain TAFs and METARS of certain
selected stations
They are very useful for aircrafts on long distance
flights
ATIS (Automatic Terminal Information Service )
Any observation (METAR & SPECI) recorded is
handed over to ATIS to be broadcast

CLOSURE OF AERODROME
Information on closure of aerodrome is indicated
in METAR and VOLMET by the use of the
terminology SNOCLO which means aerodrome is
unusable either for takeoff or landing due to heavy
snow on the runway or due to blocking of runway
for clearance operations

RAREP
Radar observations made with 3 cm ( X band)
radar at aerodrome for detecting CB clouds and
thunderstorm and given in a coded form is called
RAREP
They are issued every hour when a thunderstorm
is over the station and normally only at synoptic
hours 03, 06, 12 ,18, 00 UTC