METAR, TAF, and PIREP

Decoding a real METAR, TAF, and PIREP field by field, plus the AIRMET, SIGMET, and briefing products built on top of them.

15 min read · Weather

After this lesson you can

  • Decode every field of a real METAR, including remarks.
  • Decode a real TAF, including the FM, TEMPO, and PROB30 change groups.
  • Decode a PIREP and state when ATC is required to solicit one.
  • State the visibility and ceiling thresholds for the VFR, MVFR, and IFR flight categories.

Every weather concept in this module eventually gets compressed into one of a handful of standardized report formats. This lesson decodes two complete, realistic reports, a METAR and a TAF, field by field as training examples, plus a full PIREP, and then surveys the broader family of products, AIRMET, SIGMET, and the area forecast, that a real preflight briefing draws on.

The rest of this lesson

  1. 1.Anatomy of a METAR (training example)
  2. 2.Wind, visibility, and weather phenomena codes
  3. 3.PIREP: what a pilot actually saw (training example)
  4. 4.The TAF (training example)
  5. 5.Area forecasts and inflight advisories
  6. 6.Getting the briefing
  7. 7.Flight categories on the weather depiction chart

These 7 sections, their figures, the checks along the way and the end-of-lesson quiz come with the PPL track. Paid once, yours for good.

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

Key terms

Try to recall each definition before turning the card.