Strange METAR
 

LOCKHART RIVER (YLHR)
METAR YLHR 030900Z 32007KT //// // ////// 27/26 Q1007
RMK RF00.0/002.4
F9/181/015/688

That is straight off the Airservices briefing. Also the same from the Aviation section of the BOM site.

What the heck is " F9/181/015/688" ?????

Vis and cloud base not reported.

the ////'s indicate information not being available, in this case the visability and the cloud information are not included as perhaps the equipment that measures those pieces of information is either no available or only operates between certain periods.

That sort of temp/dewpoint split is very typical of the wet season up FNQ.

Wonder if the regulars up that way have been having fun?

Those odd groups "F9/181/015/688" are usually only used "in house" by the met people. They are used to indicate such things as quality of the data or the sensors themselves and are usually edited out automatically before dissemination to users outside of BoM. Sometimes those groups can actually take up more space than the metar/speci itself!

The "/" figures are inserted when data is not available; either the sensors aren't working or else there isn't a person on duty to fill in the gaps.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,

Cn

Cirronimbus - Love the handle - I've always vowed to fly around those, IF I ever see one.
What he said, but I'd also put $2 on
F9 - Peak wind @ 0900utc
181 degrees at 15 knots
Actual pressure 1006.88 hpa
Who knows, maybe I'll lose my $2
edit

////////////////

Raining heavily with some wind from the right.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

and with wind from the left

:D

Very good .... I'll have to remember that next time someone asks me -

Thanks Cirro & BSD for that info.

Did suspect that it was maybe something 'in-house' but didn't know why it would show up.


Nice one Peter :ok:

I think BackSeatDriver's explanation is probably closer to the mark than mine. Not sure what F9 means but 181/015 certainly could be the max wind since 00Z (perhaps from a small storm or shower that dropped the 2.4mm of rain?). There are lots of groups appended to the raw messages that are (supposed to be) removed prior to dissemination to the end users.

Sometimes they indicate such things as the period of time that the wind speed or direction is averaged over (for eg). They will even add groups that show the battery voltage and internal temperature of the automatic weather station.If all of that stuff was not removed, decoding metars would be a nightmare!!! The 688 might be a message sequence number or some such thing. I doubt is would be indicating a pressure of 1006.88; I don't think they measure pressure to two decimal places.

The temp/dewpoint spread could be because of the humid conditions (wet season and it has rained there), the water that wets the wet bulb temp sensor could be almost dried up, or frogs could be sitting on the moist material around the wet bulb temp sensor (they do that and can affect the temps!).

I like Peter's take on indicating wind and rain; nice one.

Cheers,

Cn

Why in this day and age should we have to decode a METAR anyway?

If you ask for a METAR in flight they don't read it to you in code!

They removed morse code from the radio licence requirements (and how many would remain current in that today?).

Quite a few I'd imagine FIY12. :ok:

"If you ask for a METAR in flight they don't read it to you in code!'

No, but "they" have to decode it to read it to you in language you will understand.

The original question was for a decode of the strange looking bit at the end. I wonder just how many people outside of the Met Bureau could correctly decode that bit of the message that was queried. So far, I'm not sure anyone has offered the correct interpretation of that part of that message. I've offered as much as I can; sorry that I can' t do better right now.

Not sure what morse code has to do with anything either.

If anyone does know what that odd bit means, I'd be interested to learn something. Please feel free to help out.

Cheers,

Cn

I've got "Morse 10wpm" on my licence, and still use it to ID aids. :ok:

We have little cheat-sheet morse code placards in our aircraft, for that very reason :ok:

Why would you need it? The morse decode are on all charts (IFR and VFR) and DAPs in the nav aid box along with its frequency. :)

One fine day, possibly in the 2020s, all this will be in plain english so mere mortals don't have to struggle with this 1940s nonsense.

The table A20 mentioned in BackSeatDriver's earlier post comes from America (and does not apply to us in Aus) and mentions pressure measured to an accuracy of +/- 0.68hPa but reported to a resolution of 0.1hPa. In Australia, pressure is measured to one decimal place and to an accuracy of +/- 0.3hPa. I don't think anyone in Australia measures pressure (for aviation purposes) to more than one decimal place.

I don't think anyone broadcasts metars etc in morse code. I thought it was only the navaids that use morse; is that right?

I agree with Superdimona's thoughts that plain language reporting would be a lot easier and the sooner that happens, the better.

Cn, Thanks for your info re +/- .3 hpa.
The table A20, I posted above was from the 'Texas A&M University' website with the link provided by the 'World Meteorological Organization' and includes as a member and agent in Australia, our 'Bureau of Meteorology'
As I first said I would only risk $2 on what I thought the METAR addition meant, but now after research (including Texas Uni, which displays the WMO data), I am prepared to increase my bet to $2.50.
I would appreciate your source of accuracy for air pressure measurements.
If you are a meteorologist, than I will just say 'thanks' and climb back into my box. :ok:

Modern plain language? Something like;

Meteorology Observation for Lockhart River Aerodrome issued at zero nine hundred universal coordinated time on the ninth day of the present month. The wind blowing from three hundred and twenty degrees magnetic at seven nautical miles per hour. No measurements of cloud coverage, cloud altitude or horizontal visibility available. Temperature twenty seven degrees centigrade. Dewpoint twenty six degrees centigrade. Barometric altimeter setting which will cause the altimeter to read altitude above mean sea level for Lockhart River Aerodrome one thousand and seven hectoPascals.
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