From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
METAR is a format for reporting weather information. METAR is a French abbreviation, which translates to "aviation routine meteorological report."
METAR reports are primarily used by airline pilotss, to learn about the weather where they're going to land, and by meteorologists, who use the information to help forecast the weather. METAR reports often come from airports.
A typical METAR report contains data for the temperature, dew point, wind, precipitation, cloud cover, cloud heights, visibility, and barometric pressure. A METAR report may also contain information on precipitation amounts, lightning, and other information that would be of interest to pilots or meteorologists.
This METAR example is from Norman, Oklahoma, and was taken on February 13th at 4:32 GMT.
KOUN 130432Z AUTO 02004KT 10SM CLR M06/M09 A3046 RMK AO2
- AUTO indicates that the report was taken from an automated weather station.
- 02004KT means there is a 4 knot wind from 20 degrees (North North East).
- 10SM is the visibility in statute miles
- CLR means "clear skies," or no clouds
- M06/M09 indicates a temperature of negative 6 degrees Celsius and a dew point of minus 9 degrees Celsius.
- A3046 is the altimeter setting, which is 30.46 inches of mercury.
- RMK indicates the remarks section follows
- A02, the only remark in this report, indicates that the station has a precipitation sensor.
