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It is also used by Meteorologist s, who use the information to help Forecast the Weather . METAR reports usually come from Airport s. Typically, reports are generated once an hour; however, if conditions change significantly, they may updated in special reports called SPECI's.

A typical METAR report contains data for the Temperature , Dew Point , Wind , Precipitation , Cloud cover, cloud heights, visibility, and Barometric Pressure . A METAR report may also contain information on Precipitation amounts, Lightning , and other information that would be of interest to pilots or meteorologists.

The complement to METAR reports, reporting forecasted weather rather than current weather, are TAF s. METARs and TAFs are used in VOLMET broadcasts.


UNITED STATES/CANADA METAR CODE

This METAR example is from .

METAR KTTN 051853Z 04011KT 1/2SM VCTS SN FZFG BKN003 OVC010 M02/M02 A3006 RMK AO2 TSB40 SLP176 P0002 T10171017=


''Note that what follows is not part of the international format. This example is particular to the United States, a format not even shared with Canada.''


INTERNATIONAL METAR CODE

.

METAR LBBG 041600Z 12003MPS 310V290 1400 R04/P1500N R22/P1500U +SN BKN022 OVC050 M04/M07 Q1020 NOSIG 9949//91=

  • METAR indicates that the following is a standard hourly observation.

  • LBBG indicates the report came from Sarafovo Airport in Burgas, Bulgaria in continental Europe .

  • 041600Z indicates the .

  • 12003MPS indicates the Wind Direction is from 120 Degree s true ( East - Southeast ) at a Speed of 3 Meters Per Second .

  • 310V290 indicates the Wind Direction is varying from 310 Degree s true ( Northwest ) through 120 Degree s true ( East - Southeast ) to 290 Degree s true ( West - Northwest ).

  • 1400 indicates the prevailing visibility is 1400 Meter s.

  • R04/P1500N indicates visibility along Runway 4 is 1500 Meter s and not changing significantly.

  • R22/P1500U indicates visibility along Runway 22 is 1500 Meter s and rising.

  • +SN indicates Snow is falling at a heavy intensity.

  • BKN022 indicates a broken Cloud layer at 2,200 Feet above ground level.

  • OVC050 indicates an unbroken Cloud layer (overcast) at 5,000 Feet above ground level.

  • M04/M07 indicates the Temperature is minus 4 Degree s Celsius and the Dewpoint is minus 7 Degree s Celsius .

  • Q1020 indicates the current Barometric Pressure extrapolated to Sea Level is 1020 Millibar s.

  • NOSIG indicates no significant change in the weather has occurred since the previous observation.

  • 9949//91 indicates runway status. Format: abcdefgh '''ab'''=runway heading, '''c'''=nature of coating (4=dry snow), '''d'''=surface covered in percent (9= 51-100% of rwy covered), '''ef'''=thickness of coating in millimeters (// stands for either not measurable or not affecting usage of rwy) '''gh'''=breaking index (91=bad breaking index i.e grip on rwy)

  • = indicates the end of the METAR report!




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