Reading METARs, TAFs and weather briefings for Part 107

Weather report questions are pure decoding. Once you know the order of the groups, every METAR reads the same way.

METAR, group by group

Take this example: METAR KINK 121845Z 11012G18KT 15SM SKC 25/17 A3000.

• KINK is the station. Stations in the 48 states start with K.
• 121845Z is the day of the month and the time in UTC: the 12th at 18:45 Zulu.
• 11012G18KT is wind from 110° true at 12 knots, gusting 18.
• 15SM is visibility in statute miles.
• SKC means sky clear. Cloud groups give coverage and height in hundreds of feet AGL: BKN008 is broken at 800 feet.
• 25/17 are temperature and dew point in °C. An M means minus.
• A3000 is the altimeter setting, 30.00 inches of mercury.

Weather symbols use a minus for light and a plus for heavy: +TSRA is a thunderstorm with heavy rain, BR is mist, FG is fog, VC means in the vicinity. A SPECI is an unscheduled report issued when conditions change significantly.

The ceiling

The ceiling is the lowest broken (BKN) or overcast (OVC) layer, or the vertical visibility (VV) into an obscuration. Few and scattered layers are never a ceiling. This matters for Part 107 because you must stay 500 feet below clouds.

TAF

A TAF forecasts conditions within 5 statute miles of an airport for 24 or 30 hours. The valid period 1218/1324 runs from the 12th at 18Z to the 13th at 24Z.

• FM starts a rapid change at a given time.
• TEMPO describes temporary fluctuations lasting less than an hour at a time.
• PROB40 gives a 40% probability of the conditions in the stated period.
• P6SM means visibility greater than 6 statute miles.

Briefings and other products

A standard briefing is the full picture before a flight, starting with adverse conditions. An abbreviated briefing updates an earlier one. An outlook briefing is for flights 6 or more hours away. Pilot reports (PIREPs) tell you what pilots actually find aloft, such as turbulence and icing.