Forecasts and warnings

TAF, AIRMET, SIGMET, convective SIGMET, and PIREPs -- decoded.

16 min read · IFR weather

After this lesson you can

  • Decode a real TAF, field by field, including PROB and change groups.
  • Decode a real AIRMET and know which of the three letters covers which hazard.
  • Decode a real convective SIGMET and know what it always implies, even unstated.
  • Place SIGMETs, CWAs, and PIREPs correctly against each other by scope and validity.

Every hazard covered earlier in this module -- icing, thunderstorms, low ceilings -- eventually shows up in one of a small set of forecast products. Learning to read them is not optional vocabulary: a TAF, an AIRMET, and a SIGMET each answer a different question, on a different timescale, for a different area, and a standard briefing is built by reading them in a specific order for a reason.

This lesson decodes three real examples line by line -- a TAF, an AIRMET, and a convective SIGMET -- exactly as they would appear in a briefing, plus the shorter products (SIGMET, CWA, PIREP) that fill the gaps between them.

The rest of this lesson

  1. 1.The forecast family, at a glance
  2. 2.TAF: decoded line by line
  3. 3.AIRMET: three letters, one system
  4. 4.AIRMET Sierra: decoded line by line
  5. 5.SIGMET: hazardous to every aircraft
  6. 6.Convective SIGMET: decoded line by line
  7. 7.CWA and PIREPs: filling the gaps
  8. 8.Putting it together
  9. 9.The Surface Analysis Chart, and the ceiling-and-visibility picture beside it
  10. 10.Graphical Forecasts for Aviation, and how to be misled by one
  11. 11.The Convective Outlook: a severe-weather product a pilot borrows

These 11 sections, their figures, the checks along the way and the end-of-lesson quiz come with the IFR track. Paid once, yours for good.

See what the IFR track costsEvery module 1 is free to read, no account, no card.

Key terms

Try to recall each definition before turning the card.