Aviation Weather Guides
Clear, practical instruction on reading METAR and TAF reports. Every guide is written in plain English, builds from real report examples, and explains both what the codes mean and what they cannot tell you.
How to Read a METAR
Decode a surface observation field by field — wind, visibility, weather, sky, temperature, and altimeter — with two fully worked examples.
How to Read a TAF
Understand the terminal aerodrome forecast: validity periods, FM, BECMG, TEMPO, and PROB groups, with worked forecasts.
METAR Weather Codes
Intensity, descriptors, precipitation, and obscurations — how present-weather groups like -RA, +TSRA, and BR are built.
Cloud & Ceiling Codes
FEW, SCT, BKN, OVC and VV, reading heights as AGL, and the exact rule for determining the ceiling.
METAR Remarks (RMK)
Decode the remarks section: AO2, sea-level pressure, the T-group, peak wind, pressure tendency, and more.
Aviation Flight Categories
VFR, MVFR, IFR, and LIFR — the exact ceiling and visibility thresholds and the more-restrictive rule.
Prefer to see it in action?
Browse worked decode examples or open the live decoder.