US TAF/METAR Question

[Cactus99]

Evening,

Could someone please shed any light on the obvious differences between European way and the US way on the PBI TAF/Metar below:

ie, what does P6SM mean and "RMK AO2 SLP145 T03060233 53007="

Cheers :ok:



Weather information for KPBI last updated: 14 Aug 2007 16:20 UTC
Misc TAF
KPBI 141424Z 141412 28006KT P6SM VCTS SCT035CB SCT060 BKN100 FM1600 10007KT P6SM VCTS SCT035CB SCT060 BKN100 FM2300 12005KT P6SM SCT030CB SCT100=


METAR
KPBI 141453Z 30009KT 10SM FEW028 SCT035 31/23 A2996 RMK AO2 SLP145
T03060233 53007=
KPBI 141453Z 30009KT 10SM FEW028 SCT035 31/23 A2996=
KPBI 141553Z 29006KT 10SM SCT034 32/23 A2996 RMK AO2 SLP143 T03170233=
KPBI 141553Z 29006KT 10SM SCT034 32/23 A2996=

[Mad (Flt) Scientist]

This might be a useful resource for a US TAF etc.:
http://aviationweather.gov/static/help/taf-decode.shtml

Specifically, P6SM means forecast visibility of Plus 6 Statute Miles.

And for METARs:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lzk/html/metar.htm

Remarks...in this case "AO2 SLP205"
Note: The remarks section of an observation may have a variety of data. The most common remarks include "AO2" indicating an ASOS observation and SLP indicating sea level pressure in millibars (example: "SLP205"means a sea level pressure of 1020.5 millibars).


And FMH-1 (http://www.nws.noaa.gov/oso/oso1/oso12/fmh1/fmh1ch12.htm#ch12link) is the definitive statement on US METAR coding.

So for your specific example: RMK AO2 SLP145 T03060233 53007=

is Remarks: automated station with a precipitation discriminator : Sea Level Pressure 1014.5mb : Temp 30.6, dewpoint 23.3 : 3 hourly pressure change "Decreasing or steady, then increasing; or increasing then increasing more rapidly" 0.7 hectopascals change in 3 hours