Help With TAF interpretation
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 13,787
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From: EuroGA.org
Everything is "until further notice".
So a TAF from 1000 to 2300, forecasting SCT010, with various OVC005 bits from say 1500 to 1800, will implicitly revert to SCT010 after 1800.
This is because a lot of "weather" involves an air mass of fairly uniform properties, but with temporary muck passing through. After the mucky stuff (e.g. PROB40 TEMPO +TSRA) has passed through, you are back to the original air mass.
One trick to especially watch is a TAF which runs say 1000 to 2300 and with a worsening of weather from 2000 to 2300. It is natural to think the worsening portion ends at 2300 but this is wrong. The whole TAF ends at 2300 and nothing should be inferred beyond 2300!! The worsening portion is likely to continue beyond the end of the TAF.
So a TAF from 1000 to 2300, forecasting SCT010, with various OVC005 bits from say 1500 to 1800, will implicitly revert to SCT010 after 1800.
This is because a lot of "weather" involves an air mass of fairly uniform properties, but with temporary muck passing through. After the mucky stuff (e.g. PROB40 TEMPO +TSRA) has passed through, you are back to the original air mass.
One trick to especially watch is a TAF which runs say 1000 to 2300 and with a worsening of weather from 2000 to 2300. It is natural to think the worsening portion ends at 2300 but this is wrong. The whole TAF ends at 2300 and nothing should be inferred beyond 2300!! The worsening portion is likely to continue beyond the end of the TAF.
