Metar decode please

[Kolibear]

I've just found this on the end of a Metar and haven't a clue what it means

; JP TO E NW S SW;TEMPO -SHRA

I did wonder if it meant 'Jet Provost to the east, joining downwind to land on runway 02 - followed by a shower of rain' but I don't think that a JP counts as a Meterological Phenomena

Any ideas please.

(With apologies to all the Jet Provost pilots)

[Evo]

Mmmm, dunno - figured it would be easy to find on Google, but all I found was some other METARs using it

TBPB 040800Z 07010KT 9999 VCSH SCT016 24/24 Q1014 RESH JP-->E WSW=

TBPB 121800Z 10007KT 9999 SCT016TCU BKN270 29/26 Q1012 TCU+JP WSW W;JP NW E;CB TOP E=

I guess the position gives a clue, but i've got no idea...!

[sycamore]

Reliably informed by a Met man that it is an old Beaufort format short-hand for "adjacent showers". Airfield is Grantley Adams,which I think is Caribbean,man.

[Aim Far]

It does rather beg the question why someone is paid to translate perfectly sensible english into some unintelligble old fashioned code so that we then have to translate it back into perfectly sensible english before we can use it. In the days of telex where every letter counted (and cost) perhaps there was a point to that but surely not nowadays

[Evo]

All part of the pilot mystique - got to impress the punters with our ability to read incomprehensible METARs. It wouldn't be so impressive if they realized that all those letters just say that it's was warm, sunny with a light wind would it? They can tell that by going outside.

It's the same with Q-codes, antique slide-rules (sorry, "flight computers"), mechanical stop-watches and NOTAMS. Nobody would respect lawyers if they talked in English. Nobody would respect pilots if they used a moving map GPS to find their way around. That's why we need proper "pilot interpreted" aids like VOR and ADF, 'cos the punters can't understand them...



(seriously, I like the current system - I find a one-line TAF much easier to scan than three or four lines of 'plain english' giving the same information)

[FlyingForFun]

All part of the pilot mystique

Absolutely right!

Not too long ago, on a very sad day when Concorde flew for the last time, a non-pilot friend of mine sent an e-mail to just about everyone in his computer's address book to let us all know which internet sites would be covering the event, etc. (Yes, I know I have some very sad friends!) He copied+pasted a TAF ("from a really good website I found called PPRuNe"!) and asked me to de-code it - made me feel very important for a whole 5 minutes!

FFF
--------------

[2Donkeys]

It does rather beg the question why someone is paid to translate perfectly sensible english into some unintelligble old fashioned code

You don't reckon it has anything to do with METARs being accessible to people of all nationalities and mother tongues then?

[StopStart]

I've noticed these little bits of shorthand at the end of METARs before. Places like Canada and some parts of the USA do it too.

I guess it might just be a way of giving a bit more info about the local weather than just that expected at the airfield? Dunno

Ah ha!

Here's one for your next Met exam/Line check/whatever!

Beaufort Codes

So J is - Phenomenon within site but not at the location of the observer

And P is - Shower

[FWA NATCA]

I've checked both UK and US METAR Decode and can't find a reference for JP.

Mike
NATCA FWA

[bar shaker]

The letter ' j ' is used in combination with various other letters to record phenomena occurring within sight of, but not at the station; thus jp indicates a shower within site but not at the observing point;

BS