METAR weather report (PART 1)

Nov 21, 2017

METAR weather report (PART 1)

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METAR is a format for reporting weather information. A METAR weather report is predominantly used by pilots in fulfillment of a part of a pre-flight weather briefing, and by meteorologists, who use aggregated METAR information to assist in weather forecasting. Raw METAR is the most common format in the world for the transmission of observational weather data. It is highly standardized through the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which allows it to be understood throughout most of the world.

This METAR example is from Trenton-Mercer Airport near Trenton, New Jersey, and was taken on 5 December 2003 at 18:53 UTC.

METAR KTTN 051853Z 04011KT 1/2SM VCTS SN FZFG BKN003 OVC010 M02/M02 A3006 RMK AO2 TSB40 SLP176 P0002 T10171017=[9]

METAR indicates that the following is a standard hourly observation.
KTTN is the ICAO identifier for the Trenton-Mercer Airport.
051853Z indicates the day of the month is the 5th and the time of day is 1853 Zulu/UTC, or 1:53PM Eastern Standard Time.
04011KT indicates the wind is from 040° true (north east) at 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph). In the United States, the wind direction must have a 60° or greater variance for variable wind direction to be reported and the wind speed must be greater than 3 knots (5.6 km/h; 3.5 mph).
1/2SM indicates the prevailing visibility is 1⁄2 mi (800 m) SM = statute mile.
VCTS indicates a thunderstorm (TS) in the vicinity (VC), which means from 5–10 mi (8–16 km).
SN indicates snow is falling at a moderate intensity; a preceding plus or minus sign (+/-) indicates heavy or light precipitation. Without a +/- sign, moderate precipitation is assumed.
FZFG indicates the presence of freezing fog.
BKN003 OVC010 indicates a broken ( 5⁄8 to  7⁄8 of the sky covered) cloud layer at 300 ft (91 m) above ground level (AGL) and an overcast (8/8 of the sky covered) layer at 1,000 ft (300 m).
M02/M02 indicates the temperature is −2 °C (28 °F) and the dew point is −2 °C (28 °F). An M in front of the number indicates a negative Celsius temperature/dew point ("minus").
A3006 indicates the altimeter setting is 30.06 inHg (1,018 hPa).
RMK indicates the remarks section follows.

METAR weather report (PART 1)

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