How to decode some info in METAR

[ch655244]

Hi All,
I am learning to read METAR but some questions come into my mind and need some help. Thanks a lot in advance.
For example:
METAR 100300Z 06006KT 010V090 1200
R04/1400U +SHRA SCT002 BKN005 SCT010TCU
OVC020 24/24 Q1012 TEMPO 3000 SHRA RMK
TCU OVHD A2991 RA AMT 8.8MM(B)=

I know how to decode some of the above but below are what I am not sure about:
what are the range of wind direction and wind speed?
what is the weather phenomenon information?
what is the ceiling of the cloud coverage?
how can I appropriately decode the information after RMK?

[212man]

https://e6bx.com/metar-decoder/

[Nick 1]

Hi,
Metar day 10 0300 utc , wind 060 10 kts , direction varaible from 010 and 090 deg. visibility 1200 mt
rvr rwy 04 , 1400 mt Unchanged , eavy SHowers RAin , SCaTtered200 ft ,BroKeN 500 ft scattered 1000ft , towering cumulous
overcast 2000ft temp 24 dew point 24 , QNH 1012, Tempo vis. 3000mt , showers rain , remark
Towering CUmulous OVerHeaD , pressure in hinches of mercury 2991, RAin , AMendmenT 8,8 mm of rain (B)eginning , end of report (=).

[SWBKCB]

It would be easier (and safer?) if they moved on from the world of the telex and published the forecasts in a more easily understandable format. I'm sure modern communications technology is up to the task now.

[ch655244]

Thank you for this I can use in the future

[Denti]

It would be easier (and safer?) if they moved on from the world of the telex and published the forecasts in a more easily understandable format. I'm sure modern communications technology is up to the task now.

I have to disagree. Coded METARs and TAFs are actually a very nice thing, allows for quick scanning of several or even many airports along a route. Of course, it requires a bit of a routine in doing so, but everyone doing it for a living should be able to do that. And for those that don't want to, there are more than enough decoder apps like Aeroweather and similar ones.

[Whopity]

I'm sure modern communications technology is up to the task now. It is, but in order to change over a World wide system, everyone in that system has to have the same capability and the ability to change it over at the same time, that requires a bit more capability than just having the technology in some areas. The system has been around for years, it works and if it aint broke don't fix it!

[340drvr]

I agree with Denti, it takes a lot longer to read plain text weather reports than to scan through the coded METARs and TAFs, And as said, plenty of apps that will de-code, if desired.
It always makes me laugh, on many hobby-flyer forums, to hear this complaint about how 'hard" it is to decode weather, when just a post or two previous, the same person has no trouble whatsoever conversing about engines, or avionics, "I've got a V35B with a TAT TN IO550, my panel has a G5340W with 2 G5s, a G330ES, and Century III AP......."

[Dunhovrin]

A skipper I flew with years ago had the bright idea of a "geostrophic scale" you could place alongside a TAF to get a full forecast. The longer the TAF the worse you knew the weather was going to be, and thus saving you reading the whole thing.

[Piper.Classique]

Decoding a TAF is not difficult, just part of being a professional pilot. Still, if recent pilots graduates only follow magenta lines, then the more dumbing down the better eh?

True. And it's in the private pilot exams, too. Though as this is a private pilots' forum, maybe you could be a bit tolerant and allow a lesser skill level. The OP did come here to learn, after all. I don't think any pilot was born with all the knowledge and skills required.

[Brookmans Park]

This is a Professional Pilot forum most online weather sites give a decode

[India Four Two]

A skipper I flew with years ago had the bright idea of a "geostrophic scale" you could place alongside a TAF to get a full forecast. The longer the TAF the worse the weather was going to be,

Here's one I found! :)


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1000x750/taf_ruler_00722ee6af00b7d92b7a55363ceb05128e4304b2.jpg

[Jan Olieslagers]

Magnificent! And, alas, soooo realistic.

[Nick 1]

Or like an old instructor of mine used to say “ If TAF is longer than 3 lines , stay at home ! “

[Piper.Classique]

Well, professional pilots forum, yes. I should have been more precise and said this is the private flying section.

[anxiao]

One of the problems of standard METARS is that they are not standard world wide particularly in the RMK section, where local variations can be unknown to the international pilot. For example I found even my instructor had difficulty with this the other day.

RMK AO1 1037 SLP202 T01330122 50133

Most of it is known to pilots but what is the 1037, is the sea level pressure in inches or hectopascals and what is the 50133 group? I cannot decode it from a google search.

Thanks

[SWBKCB]

As has been pointed out, this is private flyers forum, so maybe it helps keep us all safe if the vital information we all need to go flying is as clear and transparent as possible. The suggestion that their are multiple apps that will decode it for you sort of support that.

But the point behind my original comment was that if information has to be coded and then decoded you are surely introducing scope for mistakes and misinterpretation. Since the reason to code the data has now disappeared, why are still doing it. Just do it in plain?

Suppose I'll just have to get myself one of IFT's TAF decoders...

[Nick 1]

RMK A01 type of automated station / 1037 time ? / SLP in hetcopascal 1020,2 / T hourly temp.and dew point 13,3/12,2 (T1 if negative)
50133 change of pressure on the past three hours ( decreasing of 13,3 mb)

https://www.weather.gov/media/wrh/mesowest/metar_decode_key.pdf
https://www.skybrary.aero/bookshelf/books/1543.pdf
https://www.e-education.psu.edu/files/meteo101/image/Section13/metar_decoding1203.html

[BBK]

Ch655244

My advice is keep practising decoding the TAFs and after a while you’ll find it’s second nature to understand them. It’s just familiarity and you’ll probably look back and think why did I ever find it hard to decode them. It gets easier I promise!

I use an app called AeroWeather. There’s a free version and it’s easy to use and has the function to convert TAF/METAR data back to plain English if you need that.

Anxiao, good point about unusual codes in the METAR RMK field. I remember seeing those five digit codes in a report for the first time and had no idea what they were. Neither did my colleague and when I called flight planning they didn’t know either. As Nick1 mentions they refer to change of pressure but I only found that out later.

This subject came up a few years ago in a sim session where we were discussing decoding runway reports like MOTNE etc. The instructor made the point that in the days of limited data transmission perhaps it had to be that way but now almost certainly not. It’s not dumbing down it’s moving with the times!

[wiggy]

I have to disagree. Coded METARs and TAFs are actually a very nice thing, allows for quick scanning of several or even many airports along a route. Of course, it requires a bit of a routine in doing so, but everyone doing it for a living should be able to do that. And for those that don't want to, there are more than enough decoder apps like Aeroweather and similar ones.

Yep…I can understand some resistance to learning the shorthand and instead using an app to translate into full English if you are only ever interested in the conditions at one or two fields but it would get very un-wieldy very quickly in many operations.

The joke picture upthread is actually a good example, a quick glance shows are over a dozen forecasts presented on that sheet of paper….. promulgate all of those in full English and I suspect you’re well into page two or more.

On the other hand NOTAMs……..:ugh:………that system really should have been dragged out of the telegraph era years ago.

BTW I’ve been away from this business for over a year now..are the Turkish Air Force still doing lots of air displays?:rolleyes:

[Uplinker]

Agree with Denti and wiggy. Flying has many acronyms and abbreviations, as well as the NATO alphabet and morse code to learn. Welcome to the fascinating world of aviation!

The weather format is actually very easy to read and assimilate once you have had a little practice and experience. Don't use an App to decode because that way you will never learn the code.

The format is also very compact. If you are writing down weather from VOLMET or ATIS, it is a very convenient shorthand to use.

If you are flying a long distance or transocean you could have many airfields to check, and ETOPS alternates for example. As wiggy says, if these were written in plain English, it would take up many pages and take a long time to read through in the pre-flight briefing room.

Learn and use the code and enjoy - it is very simple, quick and easy once you know. :ok:

[anxiao]

Nick1 thanks for that decode, the 1037 could have been a local time as it was late morning but I would expect a classifier for time such as L or U.

MOTNE is another tricky one, which I only used to need for three months of the year and of course forgot it each year and had to re-learn. It is like learning a new language, if you don't use it you forget it.

[Nick 1]

For MOTNE serch for an app called Snowtam image with an ice cristal , the best decoder for snotam/motne a saw so far, with a dedicated part for Russia operation ..

[Denti]

Well, with the introduction of the GRF (Global Reporting Format) the former format of MOTNE is irrelevant now (well, at the end of the month), and the new one is, in my view a bit easier to use. That said, i did use the Snowtam app as well sometimes, MOTNE was just a headache.

And yes, i have to agree with wiggy NOTAMs do really need to be improved. Especially now with those novel length NOTAMs about Covid-19 restrictions and around 25 new cranes around each airport being reported completely unusable for most of us.

[Airbubba]

A skipper I flew with years ago had the bright idea of a "geostrophic scale" you could place alongside a TAF to get a full forecast. The longer the TAF the worse you knew the weather was going to be, and thus saving you reading the whole thing.

In the mid-1980s Pan Am bought a regional airline out of Miami named National. The Pan Am folks were patrician, from places like Yale and the Naval Academy. National hired pilots from previous employers like Woolworths and the police department. Asking a National pilot where he went to college was kinda like asking a Marine where his parents got married if you know what I mean.

Pan Am tried to make gentlemen pilots, National tried to make pilots gentlemen. Both failed. The world's two most dangerous things: National pilots on a simulator check and Pan Am pilots on a visual approach.

The Pan Am pilots could always find some paragraph in the manual but the National pilots were better at finding the runway from what I could see. Anyway, I was hired after the 'merger' and tried to learn from both groups.

The aircraft I was on had mostly captains from National due to an arbitration award with equipment fences to merge the seniority lists 'equitably'.

They had never flown much internationally other than Miami to Nassau and studying a book was considered cheating. So, they used the 'one finger rule' to read the international weather: put your finger over the weather. If there is still writing below your finger, the weather is bad Airbubba! :)

[8314]

...
rvr rwy 04 , 1400 mt Unchanged...

To be precise : U is upward (getting better) , D downward, N no change
Thank you.

[Nick 1]

Yes, my mistake ...