METARs & TAFs.
Read the weather.

Start with the product, the airport, and the clock

A METAR answers, “What did the observing station report?” A TAF answers, “What conditions are forecast at this airport during this period?” They share much of their vocabulary, which makes them easier to learn together. Their different purposes matter before you translate a single wind or cloud group.

IN THE REAL WORLDNWS ASOS Photo Gallery

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A METAR is a report of conditions, not a promise that they will continue until the next routine report. A TAF is an airport forecast, not a forecast for every point between two airports. Surface observations, forecasts, radar, pilot reports, and other products contribute different pieces of the weather picture.

FROM THE FAA HANDBOOKTable 24-1 · p. 24-5

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Read the station identifier before the weather. KFFZ identifies Falcon Field in Mesa; a report from a nearby airport still describes that other station. Four-character aviation identifiers differ from the three-letter codes travelers often see on airline tickets, and adding K is not a worldwide rule.

FROM THE FAA HANDBOOKFigure 24-2 · p. 24-9

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The group 110153Z means the 11th day of the month at 01:53 UTC. It does not include the month or year, so retain that context when saving reports for study. Z means Zulu, another name for Coordinated Universal Time; the digits use a 24-hour clock.

Mesa and Phoenix use Mountain Standard Time, seven hours behind UTC, throughout the year. Subtract seven hours from UTC to obtain Mesa time, carrying the calendar date backward when necessary. This rule is specific to the local time zone: the Navajo Nation observes daylight saving time, unlike most of Arizona.

The middle example is the trap: the report says day 11 while the local calendar still says day 10. Converting only the hour would put your notes on the wrong date. Keep the original UTC timestamp beside the local translation, and distinguish observation time from the time a website retrieved or displayed the report.

Find the actual reports on AviationWeather.gov

Open the Aviation Weather Center’s METAR/TAF data page using the source link below. You can also reach it from the AWC homepage through the “Text METARs and TAFs: data page” link. You do not need an account to read these public reports. Start with the raw version: it lets you identify the exact airport, observation time, and forecast groups before a decoder reorganizes them.

1. 1

   Enter the airport identifiers

   Type KFFZ KPHX into the IDs field. These are Falcon Field in Mesa and Phoenix Sky Harbor. Use the airport’s verified ICAO identifier; do not assume every three-letter identifier can be converted by adding K.

2. 2

   Choose the products

   Check METARs and TAFs. Leave the hours selector on Most recent for your first search. Leave Decoded and Tabular unchecked to see the coded reports.

3. 3

   Load and verify

   Select Load. Read the identifier and time inside each report. The page’s Last updated time is when the display refreshed; it is not the observation time of every report on the page.

● ● ●aviationweather.govWEBSITE WALKTHROUGH

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This captured search is especially instructive. Falcon Field has a METAR, followed by “No TAFs found for KFFZ.” Phoenix has an observation and a TAF. The absence of a TAF is not a forecast for good weather. It means this search did not return that product for that station. A nearby airport’s TAF can contribute regional context, but its forecast belongs to that airport; changing the label to Falcon Field would be wrong.

Keep the date attached to a saved report. The screenshots in this guide were captured on October 10, 2026 and show historical weather by the time you read them. The buttons below each image open the live source, whose weather will change. Our teaching METAR and KXXX TAF elsewhere in this article are deliberately invented examples, separate from these authentic website captures.

Decode one complete METAR, one group at a time

Read a METAR in its published order instead of hunting for a familiar number. The sequence moves from identification and time through wind, visibility, weather, clouds, temperature, and pressure, then into remarks. Once that order becomes familiar, you can recognize the job of an unfamiliar group before looking up its exact meaning.

METAR KFFZ 110153Z 22012G20KT 190V250 6SM HZ FEW040 SCT070 BKN100 32/12 A2992 RMK AO2 T03220117

FROM THE FAA HANDBOOKFigure 24-1 · p. 24-7

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Now combine the groups into a description: the invented observation is warm and hazy, with a gusty wind and several cloud levels. The ceiling is the broken layer at 10,000 feet above the station, not the lowest visible cloud at 4,000 feet. That description connects the numbers without pretending the report alone answers whether a particular flight should take place.

The example deliberately omits AUTO but includes AO2. Those codes answer different questions: human involvement in the report versus the observing station’s precipitation-sensing capability. Their relationship is explained in the remarks section below; AO2 by itself does not mean nobody reviewed the observation.

• First pass: identify the station and time, then translate every group with its unit.
• Second pass: connect related information, such as haze with visibility and cloud coverage with the ceiling.
• Third pass: name what is absent or unresolved, including conditions away from the station and changes after the observation.

Some reports contain additional groups, and some elements may be omitted when they do not occur or are unavailable. Do not force every report into the exact length of this example. Use the official key to explain the text that is actually present, including the remarks at the end.

Read wind direction, gusts, and variability separately

In 22012G20KT, 220 is the direction the wind comes from, 12 is its reported speed, and G20 gives a gust speed of 20 knots. The gust is a total speed, not an extra 20 knots to add to 12. KT supplies the unit for both speeds.

IN THE REAL WORLDFrankenmuth, Michigan

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METAR directions refer to true north. The FAA identifies magnetic north as the reference for ATIS and ASOS/AWOS voice winds, so a written report and a voice broadcast can use different references. Before comparing directions in a lesson, identify each source and its reference rather than assuming the difference is a reporting error.

A separate variability group preserves information that a single average direction cannot show. In the worked example, 190V250 describes a 60-degree span around the reported 220-degree wind. VRB serves a different purpose: it replaces a specific direction instead of adding a range after it.

ASOS uses a two-minute average for the basic reported wind, with gust information reported separately when its criteria are met. That helps explain why an instantaneous windsock position need not match the average exactly. For a useful study exercise, sketch the reported direction and its variability range, label true north, and explain what the gust group adds to the average.

Separate visibility, runway visual range, and weather codes

SM means statute miles, not nautical miles. A whole number and a fraction can form one visibility group: 1 1/2SM is one and one-half statute miles despite the space. M1/4SM means less than one-quarter mile; here M means “less than,” while the same letter in a temperature group means minus.

FROM THE FAA HANDBOOKFigure 24-3 · p. 24-15

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Prevailing visibility is not necessarily the worst visibility in every direction. In a manual observation, it represents the greatest distance visible across at least half the horizon, with those portions not necessarily next to each other. Automated visibility comes from sensor measurements, and remarks may identify a lower value elsewhere on the airport.

Runway visual range, or RVR, is an instrument-derived estimate of how far a pilot can see along a specified runway. U.S. METAR RVR groups end in FT because they use feet. Do not substitute that runway-specific value for the report’s general visibility or read the runway number as a distance.

R27/2400FT       Runway 27: RVR 2,400 feet
R27/P6000FT      Runway 27: RVR greater than 6,000 feet
R27/M0600FT      Runway 27: RVR less than 600 feet
R27/2400V4000FT  Runway 27: RVR varying from 2,400 to 4,000 feet

P and M preserve a reporting boundary: “greater than” and “less than” are different from an exact measurement. A missing RVR group does not mean unlimited runway visibility. It can be absent because equipment or reporting criteria do not support a value; these fragments do not describe Falcon Field equipment.

FROM THE FAA HANDBOOKTable 24-3 · p. 24-12

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Weather groups combine a qualifier, sometimes a descriptor, and a phenomenon. A minus sign denotes light precipitation, a plus sign heavy, and no sign moderate when an intensity convention applies. In -TSRA, “light” describes the rain, not the thunderstorm’s hazard; memorizing the translation must not turn into assuming the storm is mild.

Find the ceiling without losing the other cloud layers

A cloud group combines coverage with height. BKN025 describes broken coverage with a base 2,500 feet above the station; the last three digits are hundreds of feet, not a three-digit altitude. Reports can contain several layers in increasing height order, so translate each before choosing the ceiling.

FROM THE FAA HANDBOOKTable 24-4 · p. 24-16

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The ceiling is the lowest broken or overcast layer, or vertical visibility into an obscuration. In our fictional FEW040 SCT070 BKN100 report, the ceiling is 10,000 feet AGL even though clouds exist below it. “No ceiling” likewise does not necessarily mean there are no clouds: a report containing only FEW and SCT layers has clouds without a reported ceiling.

FROM THE FAA HANDBOOKFigure 24-4 · p. 24-17

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These weather heights use the station’s ground reference. Charted elevations and many aviation altitudes use mean sea level, or MSL, so numbers from the two systems cannot be compared directly. A classroom airport at an invented elevation of 1,500 feet MSL with BKN025 has a cloud base approximately 4,000 feet MSL over that station: 1,500 plus 2,500.

CLR in a U.S. automated report means no clouds detected at or below 12,000 feet; it is not a promise of an empty sky at every altitude. SKC denotes a clear sky in the relevant reporting context. VV002, another fictional fragment, means vertical visibility of 200 feet into an obscuration, not a sharply defined cloud base at 200 feet.

Cloud-type suffixes add useful information: CB means cumulonimbus and TCU means towering cumulus. Read a group such as the fictional BKN040CB as coverage, base height, and cloud type in that order. Keep the full sky description in your notes even when a website reduces the report to one ceiling number.

Finish with temperature, pressure, and the remarks

The temperature/dew-point group uses Celsius, with temperature before the slash. In our example, 32/12 means 32°C and 12°C; the spread is 20°C. In the fictional fragment M02/M05, both values are below zero: minus 2°C and minus 5°C.

Dew point is the temperature to which air must cool, at constant pressure and unchanged water-vapor content, to reach saturation. A narrowing spread is useful context when discussing fog or low-cloud potential, but it does not by itself predict when either will appear. Look for the observed visibility, cloud information, temperature trend, and the broader forecast instead of making the spread carry the entire explanation.

FROM THE FAA HANDBOOKFigure 6-3 · p. 6-5

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A2992 is an altimeter setting of 29.92 inches of mercury: insert the decimal between the second and third digits. The group is not an airport elevation or a density-altitude result. International reports can use Q followed by hectopascals, so preserve the pressure unit rather than treating every four-digit pressure group as inches.

FROM THE FAA HANDBOOKFigure 8-13 · p. 8-12

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The body rounds temperature and dew point to whole degrees, while a T group in remarks can provide tenths. Split T03220117 into T, 0, 322, 0, 117: the zero sign indicators mean nonnegative values, producing 32.2°C and 11.7°C. A sign indicator of 1 means below zero; the precise values explain why the body reads 32/12.

AO1 and AO2 use the letter O, not a zero. They describe equipment, while AUTO describes human involvement, so an augmented report may contain AO2 without AUTO. A SPECI does not automatically mean conditions became worse; the particular trigger and the actual reported weather are what matter.

RMK is the start of more information, not an instruction to stop reading. A sensor-status remark identifies a reporting limitation, not proof that the corresponding weather is absent. Finish your translation by explaining the remarks you recognize and marking unfamiliar groups for the official reference.

Read a TAF as a timeline

A Terminal Aerodrome Forecast describes expected weather for an airport over a stated period. Its first weather group establishes prevailing conditions. Later groups either replace that baseline or describe a temporary or probability-based variation. Reading only the first line misses the forecast’s main story: what changes, when it changes, and how confidently the change is described.

This complete U.S.-style example is fictional. KXXX is a teaching placeholder, not a weather source. We assign it the calendar context October 10–11, 2026; the encoded message itself contains days of the month, not the month or year. All times below are UTC. Nothing here describes current conditions at Falcon Field or another airport.

TAF KXXX 101730Z 1018/1118 22008KT P6SM SCT040 BKN100
  FM102100 24012KT P6SM VCSH BKN040
  TEMPO 1022/1102 4SM SHRA BKN025
  FM110300 20006KT P6SM BKN035
  PROB30 1104/1108 2SM TSRA BKN015CB
  FM111000 18004KT P6SM SCT035=

FROM THE FAA HANDBOOKTable 27-3 · p. 27-7

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Issue time identifies when this forecast version was prepared. The validity group identifies the period being described. Routine NWS forecasts commonly cover 24 hours; designated locations receive 30-hour forecasts. An amendment can cover a shorter remaining period. Do not assume a day-long window begins at the issue minute, or mistake the first two digits for an hour.

FROM THE FAA HANDBOOKSection 27.4.3 excerpt · p. 27-18

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A subtle version rule matters: NWS guidance says a new TAF supersedes the previous forecast for the same time and location when issued, even if its printed routine start time is slightly later. Here, 17:30 identifies the new version and 18:00 identifies its nominal start. Keep both labels on your timeline rather than discarding one.

1. 1

   Anchor the date

   Write October 10 and October 11 above the line. Midnight changes the day number, not the time zone.

2. 2

   Mark the prevailing changes

   FM102100 means October 10 at 21:00. FM110300 and FM111000 mean October 11 at 03:00 and 10:00.

3. 3

   Add the conditional windows

   Place TEMPO across 22:00–02:00 and PROB30 across 04:00–08:00. Keep them visually separate from the prevailing periods.

Separate prevailing weather, TEMPO, and probability

FM marks a significant change to prevailing conditions expected over less than an hour. The six digits after FM are day, hour, and minute. Everything following that marker belongs to the new prevailing period until the next FM or the forecast’s end. Treat each FM group as a replacement forecast, not a patch that changes only the items you happen to notice.

FROM THE FAA HANDBOOKSection 27.4.2.10.1 excerpt · p. 27-16

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Notice what disappears at 03:00: VCSH does not carry forward. The new FM group omits significant weather because none is forecast as prevailing in that period. Its wind, visibility, and cloud information are complete again. Likewise, SCT035 in the final group does not retain the preceding broken ceiling. Read the new sky forecast as written.

TEMPO works differently. From October 10 at 22:00 through October 11 at 02:00, the forecast expects episodes of 4 SM visibility, rain showers, and a broken ceiling at 2,500 feet. The wind is omitted because it remains 240° at 12 knots from the prevailing group. During those episodes, BKN025 is the temporary sky forecast; do not automatically append the old BKN040 layer.

FROM THE FAA HANDBOOKSection 27.4.2.10.2 excerpt · p. 27-17

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Under current NWS guidance, individual TEMPO episodes last one hour or less and together occupy less than half the stated window. Occurrence has a greater-than-50-percent probability. Our four-hour window therefore does not forecast four continuous hours of reduced conditions, nor does it tell you the exact minutes of an episode. Between episodes the prevailing forecast remains the baseline. At 02:00 the TEMPO window ends, leaving that baseline until FM110300.

When a TEMPO element is unchanged, it is inherited. When the cloud forecast changes, NWS forecasters include all significant forecast cloud layers, including a layer that stays unchanged. This prevents a common decoding mistake: inheriting an entire old cloud list simply because one new layer appears. The complete temporary sky group matters.

FROM THE FAA HANDBOOKSection 27.4.2.10.3 excerpt · p. 27-17

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PROB30 1104/1108 expresses a 30 percent chance of the stated thunderstorm-and-rain event and its associated 2 SM visibility and broken cumulonimbus at 1,500 feet between 04:00 and 08:00 on October 11. It is not a claim that rain occupies 30 percent of those four hours. The prevailing forecast remains P6SM BKN035, with 200°/6 kt wind unchanged in the conditional scenario.

Test your reading at 23:00, 02:30, and 05:00. At 23:00 identify the prevailing weather plus the possible temporary episodes. At 02:30 the temporary window has ended. At 05:00 identify the newer prevailing group plus the probability scenario. A single color or one selected line cannot communicate all three answers.

Check the version—and recognize international differences

A forecast’s printed end time does not mean the version on your screen remains the latest until then. NWS offices issue routine forecasts on a schedule and amend them when warranted. A screenshot can preserve an old forecast perfectly while missing a newer message. Compare station, issue time, status, and valid period before comparing individual weather groups.

FROM THE FAA HANDBOOKTable 27-7 and introduction · p. 27-20

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NWS guidance reserves NIL for limited situations, including extended missing observations when other available information cannot support a forecast. An airport that never receives a TAF is a different situation from a scheduled product being NIL. Neither is a reason to infer favorable weather from an empty result.

Worldwide TAFs share a language but not every national convention. NWS TAFs use statute miles for visibility and do not use BECMG or CAVOK. Other countries may express visibility in meters and use additional groups. Check the issuing service’s conventions before applying habits learned from a U.S. example.

When a decoding reference and a current product disagree, check the reference’s date and jurisdiction. The removed nine-hour PROB30 restriction is a useful example. A familiar training chart can remain useful for basic code structure while containing a rule that has since changed. The current NWS production instruction is the reference used for U.S. forecast-group rules in this guide.

Use flight categories without losing the details

The ceiling is the lowest broken or overcast layer, or the vertical visibility into a complete obscuration. FEW and SCT are not ceiling layers. In SCT040 BKN100, the ceiling is 10,000 feet, not 4,000. In BKN015CB it is 1,500 feet; CB identifies cumulonimbus. Cloud heights in these station reports and forecasts are above ground level at the airport, not heights above every point along a route.

FROM THE FAA HANDBOOKChapter 3 flight-category definitions · p. 3-28

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VFR requires both the ceiling and visibility conditions in its row. For the other rows, either element can determine the category, unless the other element is more restrictive. Thus a 4,000-foot ceiling with 2 SM visibility is IFR. A 700-foot ceiling with 10 SM visibility is also IFR. A 400-foot ceiling remains LIFR even with excellent visibility.

Boundary values are easy to misread: exactly 500 feet is IFR, exactly 1,000 feet is MVFR, and exactly 3,000 feet is still MVFR. Exactly 1 SM is IFR, exactly 3 SM is MVFR, and exactly 5 SM is still MVFR. Missing information is not the same as an explicit no-ceiling condition; do not promote an unknown result to VFR.

All four prevailing periods in our fictional TAF meet the VFR category thresholds. The TEMPO scenario is MVFR because of its 4 SM visibility and 2,500-foot ceiling. The PROB30 scenario is IFR because 2 SM visibility is more restrictive than its 1,500-foot ceiling. Preserve those conditional labels when presenting the categories; the probability forecast is not a continuous IFR forecast for the entire night.

IN THE REAL WORLDFigure A-14 · p. A-12

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Use the decoder—and then look for a trend

Check Decoded to see the same report translated into labeled fields. Say your interpretation first, then compare it with the website. That turns a convenient decoder into a learning tool. Check the units carefully: a raw METAR gives Celsius temperatures, while the decoded view can also display Fahrenheit.

● ● ●aviationweather.govWEBSITE WALKTHROUGH

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Decoders are useful, but they are still software. Preserve the raw report and read any quality-control messages displayed with it. An unfamiliar decoded value is a reason to cross-check the original group and the official decoding reference. Keep the raw code beside the translation while you resolve the difference.

1. 1

   Focus on one airport

   Change the IDs field to KFFZ. Keep METARs selected and clear TAFs so the observation history is easy to follow.

2. 2

   Expand the time window

   Select past 6 hours from the hours menu. Select Tabular and then Load. Tabular is a METAR view; it is not a substitute for drawing a TAF timeline.

3. 3

   Read from older to newer

   The newest report is listed first. Start at the oldest relevant row and work forward, comparing wind, gusts, visibility, cloud layers, temperature, dew point, and pressure. Include any SPECI reports rather than selecting only the routine hourly lines.

● ● ●aviationweather.govWEBSITE WALKTHROUGH

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In this historical Falcon Field sample, the earlier 1454Z report shows light wind, while the 1954Z report includes a 23-knot gust. The table helps reveal that change immediately. It does not explain the cause by itself, and it does not prove what happens next. Compare the sequence with the forecast, surrounding observations, radar, and the local discussion.

If the decoder raises a question, open the AWC data help page. Its METAR section explains each report element and links to the Federal Meteorological Handbook and FAA Aviation Weather Handbook. Use your browser’s Find command (Command+F on Mac or Ctrl+F on Windows) for a term such as “visibility,” “sky condition,” or “remarks.” Check that you are reading the METAR section rather than accidentally applying a TAF rule.

● ● ●aviationweather.govWEBSITE WALKTHROUGH

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Put the observation and forecast in context

Compare like with like. A 23:00 observation belongs beside the forecast groups covering 23:00, not beside the TAF’s first line simply because it appears first. If a report shows the temporary conditions during a TEMPO window, that does not automatically contradict the prevailing forecast. If several reports show a sustained difference, the duration and subsequent forecast updates become part of the story.

A trend is evidence of how observations have changed, not a guarantee they will continue that way. Two improving reports do not erase a later deterioration in the forecast. Similarly, one reassuring airport observation does not establish what lies between that airport and another station. Keep the timestamps visible when comparing reports or drawing a sequence.

An NWS TAF describes the area within 5 statute miles of the center of an airport’s runway complex. Forecast vicinity codes refer to the area from 5 to 10 statute miles. That makes VCSH in our example showers nearby, rather than a forecast of showers prevailing at the airport. These distances describe the forecast’s scope; they are not storm-avoidance distances.

Many smaller airports have observations without their own TAF. A nearby airport’s forecast can contribute context, but it does not become a site-specific forecast for the airport you selected. Terrain, elevation, local cloud development, and the spacing of observations matter. The absence of a TAF is a coverage question to resolve with other aviation weather information, not a coded weather condition.

FROM THE FAA HANDBOOKFigure 27-10 · p. 27-36

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• Use airport observations and forecasts to understand local conditions and their expected changes.
• Use graphical forecasts to examine the area between stations, while checking whether a layer is an observation, analysis, or forecast and which height reference it uses.
• Use radar and satellite imagery for spatial context, including the image time and the limits of what each sensor depicts.
• Include relevant aviation advisories, pilot reports, and winds or temperatures aloft to examine hazards and conditions that ceiling-and-visibility categories cannot show.

Finish a study example by stating the location, time window, prevailing forecast, conditional scenarios, and information still missing. That produces a useful weather explanation rather than a verdict based on one airport dot. The same habit makes an instructor discussion more precise: identify which source supports each part of your explanation and where uncertainty remains.

Connect the airport report to the weather map

Text reports give you precision at individual stations. A map helps you place those stations in the surrounding weather. On the AWC data page, the Map button is available when one station is selected. It opens Graphical Forecasts for Aviation, or GFA. You can also use Weather → Observations from the site’s navigation.

● ● ●aviationweather.govWEBSITE WALKTHROUGH

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Open Legend before interpreting the colors. On the observation map, the station symbols and flight-category dots summarize particular observed conditions. Radar shading, warning outlines, and pilot-report symbols represent different products. The same color can mean different things in different layers, so a green station dot and a green radar return are not interchangeable.

The captured Arizona map shows why this matters: VFR station indications can appear in a region with precipitation and convective information. A ceiling/visibility category is only one part of the weather picture. It does not erase a thunderstorm hazard or turn the space between weather stations into a measured observation.

● ● ●aviationweather.govWEBSITE WALKTHROUGH

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1. 1

   Choose what you are examining

   Open the layer control at the upper right. The Observations view offers METAR, Flight Cat Dots, PIREP, radar, and other layers. Work through a few layers at a time so you can explain what each symbol represents.

2. 2

   Check the selected time

   Read the UTC time on the bottom timeline and the time label for the specific product. An observation map can be set to a past time. A loop contains multiple images, not a single simultaneous observation everywhere.

3. 3

   Read the underlying report

   Select a station or weather feature to inspect its details. Verify the station identifier, product, issue or observation time, and valid period. Close overlapping popups before investigating another feature.

● ● ●aviationweather.govWEBSITE WALKTHROUGH

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For the forecast view, open Weather → Ceiling & Visibility. The menu also exposes Clouds, Precipitation, Thunderstorms, Winds, Turbulence, and Icing. These products answer different questions. Reading a TAF should lead you toward the relevant surrounding products, rather than expecting one airport forecast to describe every condition along your route.

● ● ●aviationweather.govWEBSITE WALKTHROUGH

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Before comparing a chart with a TAF, make their times agree. Select the forecast time of interest, read the legend, and identify whether you are looking at a forecast grid, a station product, or an advisory overlay. A forecast grid is guidance between locations; it is not a new METAR from each colored patch. Use the GFA help link for the source and limitations of each selected product.

Read the forecaster’s reasoning, then practice explaining it

The local NWS Area Forecast Discussion adds the reasoning that short coded reports cannot carry. For Mesa and Phoenix, use the Phoenix office’s discussion linked below. Confirm that the page says “Issued by NWS Phoenix, AZ,” then check its issuance date and time. Search results can lead to an older version; the version number and Current Version label deserve a deliberate check.

● ● ●forecast.weather.govWEBSITE WALKTHROUGH

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Press Command+F on Mac or Ctrl+F on Windows, type “.AVIATION,” and read the airports named in that section. On a phone, use the browser menu’s Find in Page option. The section can have its own update time. Look for the expected wind shifts, timing uncertainty, thunderstorm potential, and ceiling or visibility concerns. Do not assume a paragraph applies equally to every airport in a forecast office’s large area.

● ● ●forecast.weather.govWEBSITE WALKTHROUGH

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In this archived example, the aviation section explicitly discusses uncertainty in the timing of weather in the TAF package. That is a useful lesson even after the weather itself has expired: a coded change time is a forecast, and the discussion can explain confidence and competing possibilities. Read it alongside the TAF, not as a replacement for the TAF or a complete briefing.

Build a small practice notebook. Save a raw report with its date, write your own plain-language version, sketch the cloud layers or forecast timeline, and list one unanswered question. At your next lesson, ask your instructor to check the interpretation and explain how it fits the specific aircraft, route, terrain, rules, and personal limits. That conversation is more useful than memorizing a decoder output.