More on Fire Danger in NJ and eastern PA

Here is a nice news report from ABC 6 Action News in Philadelphia on March 27 about the high risk of wild fires (aka brush fires in NJ). There were Red Flag warnings on March 26 and March 27, yesterday saw elevated fire danger in NJ. There is a short article from the New Jersey News Room dot com on this years spring fire season in NJ. I found links for both the video that I embedded here as well as the news article on this WildlandFire hotlist thread (posted Mar 29). I know of several smaller wild or brush fires that the NJ Forest Fire Service worked this past week. Thank-you for the work you do in observing and then bringing these fires under control.

Lower North Forks Fire, CO

The Lower North Fork Fire has burned approximately 4,500 acres in Jefferson County, CO and is uncontained. At least two people have died, 23 houses have been destroyed and some 900 other residences have been evacuated since the fire began.  Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today reported yesterday that the Colorado State Forest Service released a statement yesterday afternoon saying that the fire may have been caused by a controlled burn done last week.

Winds prevented Air operations on Monday, March 26. Yesterday, two P-2 tankers (T-44 and T-45) and one SEAT (Air Tractor 802) worked the fire along with some helos with buckets.

 More info on the Lower Forks Fire:
9News report on fire plus links
9News photo gallery - air ops
Denver Post on fire
Wildfire Today (3/28/12) on Lower North Forks Fire
Wildlandfire hotlist thread on Lower North Forks Fire

NASA rockets study upper level jet stream

The short video that I embedded here shows the launch of five ATREX rockets, suborbital rockets, to study the upper level jet stream. The rockets were launched 80 seconds apart from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia early in the morning of March 27, 2012.

For more information:

NASA - about the study,  (brief description about the study, diagram of atmosphere, about the rockets

NASA - ATREX mission (info on launch, links to photos, etc.

NASA - successful launch of ATREX (includes slide show)

Red Flag Warnings continue in NJ

Red flag warnings continue in NJ for a second day in a row. Today's Red Flag Warnings will last until 4 PM. Regarding wildfire activity yesterday, I suspect but am not certain that most of the wildfire activity were smaller fires. The largest fire that I heard about was on the order of 20 to 30 acres. For an article on some of yesterday's wildfire activity in northern NJ, there is an article from the Asbury Park Press that you may want to read.

Red Flag Warning in NJ

Like other regions in North America, New Jersey has seen a mild winter with dry conditions leading to increased wildfire danger. The National Weather Service issued a Red Flag Warning for all of New Jersey, portions of eastern PA, DE, and portions of South East NY. Below is the Red Flag Warning issued by the Mt. Holly Office of the National Weather Service. Here are related articles: NJ dot com and Lehigh Valley Live dot com.

The Red Flag Warning for the region served by the Mt. Holly Office of the NWS expires at 9 PM tonight with elevated fire danger expected tomorrow. I can testify to the strong winds blowing.

I'll post updates as conditions warrant.


Red Flag Warning
URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
323 PM EDT MON MAR 26 2012

NJZ001-007>010-012>027-270100-
/O.CON.KPHI.FW.W.0002.000000T0000Z-120327T0100Z/
/O.CON.KPHI.FW.A.0002.120327T1200Z-120327T2000Z/
SUSSEX-WARREN-MORRIS-HUNTERDON-SOMERSET-MIDDLESEX-
WESTERN MONMOUTH-EASTERN MONMOUTH-MERCER-SALEM-GLOUCESTER-CAMDEN-
NORTHWESTERN BURLINGTON-OCEAN-CUMBERLAND-ATLANTIC-CAPE MAY-
ATLANTIC COASTAL CAPE MAY-COASTAL ATLANTIC-COASTAL OCEAN-
SOUTHEASTERN BURLINGTON-
323 PM EDT MON MAR 26 2012

...RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM EDT THIS
EVENING...

...FIRE WEATHER WATCH IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY MORNING
THROUGH TUESDAY AFTERNOON...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOUNT HOLLY HAS ISSUED A FIRE
WEATHER WATCH...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY MORNING THROUGH
TUESDAY AFTERNOON.

* AFFECTED AREA...NORTHWEST, CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY

* WINDS...NORTHWEST 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH. THE
STRONGEST WIND GUSTS WILL OCCUR DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON.

* TIMING...THROUGH 9 PM. MOST VULNERABLE TIME IS LATE THIS
AFTERNOON.

* RELATIVE HUMIDITY...AROUND 20 PERCENT.

* IMPACTS...BECAUSE OF THE METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS, THE
POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR RAPID SPREAD IF UNCONTROLLED FIRES DEVELOP.
THE FIRE DANGER WILL BE ELEVATED DUE TO THE STRONG WIND GUSTS,
RECENT LACK OF PRECIPITATION, LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITIES, AND DRY
FUELS.

* TUESDAY...WINDS WILL ONCE AGAIN BE GUSTY, ESPECIALLY IN THE
MORNING AND EARLY AFTERNOON. IF HUMIDITY LEVELS DROP BEFORE THE
WINDS START TO DECREASE, THEN RED FLAG CONDITIONS MIGHT BE
REACHED.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS
ARE EITHER OCCURRING NOW...OR WILL SHORTLY. A COMBINATION OF
STRONG WINDS...LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY...AND WARM TEMPERATURES WILL
CREATE EXPLOSIVE FIRE GROWTH POTENTIAL.

A FIRE WEATHER WATCH MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS
ARE FORECAST TO OCCUR. LISTEN FOR LATER FORECASTS AND POSSIBLE
RED FLAG WARNINGS.

CAL FIRE writes USFS Chief Tidwell

When I reported yesterday about recent news affecting aerial wildland firefighting I forgot one thing. That is, I forgot to mention that Ken Pimlott, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) wrote a letter to Chief Tidwell, Chief of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) with his reservations about the USFS's current air tanker strategy. For some of you, this may be old news, but it is important, so I will spend a little time here on Pimlott's letter. I first read about this letter in the Firebomber Publication Blog on March 15 where I was able to download a copy of the letter. A few days later, I saw that Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today reported on this letter on Tues. March 20, 2012, also including a copy of this letter in his article.

Speaking of the size of the federal tanker fleet and its affect on CAL FIRE, Ken Pimlott (CAL FIRE) says:

The reduction in the number of federal air tankers from 43 in 2000 to 11 in 2011, has resulted in significant impacts . . . placing an increasing burden on CAL FIRE aircraft to respond to fires on National Forest Lands. Initial and extended attack fires on federal lands are increasing the flight hours on CAL FIRE's air tankers and reducing their availability for response to new fires.

Bill Gabbert has a nice short commentary about Pimlott's letter in his article of Tues. March 20, 2012. In addition, you might want to read this commentary from the Press-Enterprise on how the reduction in the federal tanker fleet could affect California, you will find the P-E article (dated 3/23/12) here.

News in the tanker and helo biz

It is a little past time to catch up on some news items in the business of aerial wildland fire fighting. So, I'll highlight some of the items that have run across in my wonderings on the internet the last couple of weeks.

1. The chief of the US Forest Service, Chief Tom Tidwell, testified before Congress on the USFS 2013 budget. Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today writes about Chief Tidwell's testimony on March 7. In a follow-up article a couple of days later, Bill spends a little more time writing on the 30 helicopters that will be on national contract this year, go here to read his March 9 article.

2. Here are a couple of articles, at least one of which a friend of mine sent me in e-mail, that Mike Archer of the Firebomber Publications Blog wrote about. On March 12, Mike referenced a March 12 editorial in the Press Enterprise on the current fleet of air tankers on national contract, the editorial may be found here. Three days later, on March 15, MIke included a link to another article on the state of the tanker biz from Mountain-News, that may be accessed from this webpage.

3. Walt Darran, since deceased (may he rest in peace) was the chairman of the Associated Aerial Firefighters safety committee at the time I wrote this article. He had written a nice commentary on the future of air tankers in March 2012. Unfortunately, I can not find Walt's commentary. I am familiar with all the good work that Walt did as a pilot and after he retired and feel it appropriate to reference this commentary.

Revised on October 12, 2015 to remove a dead link.

Canadian Air Tankers

Believe it or not, I hoped to write about something else today. But life got in the way. Nothing major, just some details that I had to take care of that were a little time consuming. I am sharing this video with you that I found yesterday, thanks to some friends in NJ. You will get to know some of the air tankers used in by our friends in Canada.

Enjoy.

Ag Cat in action

DC-7 revisited

I ran across the video from the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) a few days ago thanks to a friend. EAA has an extensive collection of videos that you may look at on their video site. One of these videos is about Sully and Skiles obtaining their second in command rating for the DC-7 (in the EAA learning to fly channel), a direct link to the video may be found here.

Some of you may recall that I had the privilege of corresponding with Captain Larry Kraus, pilot in command of Butler Aircraft's DC-7 tanker 62 a couple of years ago. I learned a lot about DC-7 tankers and the tanker biz from this correspondence which I wrote about on this blog. See for example, this article, the first of many where I introduce the DC-7 and Butler's DC-7s. Those of you who may want to read more about the DC-7 tankers may want to start by reading articles with the DC-7 label (the newest article is listed first and if you go to the bottom of the page and click older articles you will see the earliest article).

Enjoy and Happy St. Patrick's day everyone!

SEATs up close and (sort of) personal (2 of 2)

When I first starting blogging about aerial wildland firefighting over three years ago, one of my first articles was about the Grumman AgCats contracted for by the NJ Forest Fire Service. I got these photos using my cell phone last week as I walking by a hanger at Downstown on the way to my car. I hope to return to Downstown in a few weeks and spend more quality time with both the Grumman Ag Cats and the Air Tractor 602s.  When I do, I'll bring my digital camera with me and get more photos for you.

SEATs up close and (sort of) personal (1 of 2)

When I was at Downstown Airport last week, two Air Tractor 602s. After introducing myself to my host from Downstown and the NJ Forest Fire official who was leading the meeting, I  parked my coat on a chair and went over to introduce myself to the 602s.

What magnificent aircraft they are. I did not have to worry about hitting my head on the wing. I did this once with the Cessna trainer. I walked under the wing with the flaps extended . . .

I was impressed by the wing span, 56 feet according to the specs. Wow. As a comparison, the wing span of the Cessna Skyhawk 172P trainer that have been in on my scenic flights has a wing span of 36 feet. The engine of the 602 was over my head, I'm about 5'8" tall.

I wanted to linger more with each aircraft. I took the photos you see below with my cell phone. Not the greatest photos, but you get the idea. When the meeting started and I sat down, I looked ahead at our leader with the aircraft in the background. It was something special to spend a couple of hours in this hanger observing the NJFFS Aviation Safety Meeting under the watchful eye of these two splendid aircraft. It was as if they were saying, this is what we do, you are here because of me.

It was easy to close my eyes and see these splendid aircraft doing one of the things they do best, fighting fires for the NJFFS. But there are other things they do well like crop dusting.

I'll write a little about Downstown's Grumman AgCats in my next post, with some photos.

Reflections from Observing a NJ Forest Fire Service Aviation Safety Meeting

The other day I has privileged to be invited to sit in as a guest at the NJ Forest Fire Service's (NJFFS) air safety meeting held at Vineland-Downstown Airport in Vineland, NJ.The meeting that I sat in was held in the morning for ground fire fighters, pilots, tanker base personnel, fire observers, and the contractor. I did not attend the pilots recurrency training that was held in the afternoon.

Downstown Aero Crop Service based at Vineland-Downstown Airport (28N) has been providing contract fixed-wing aircraft (SEATs) to the NJ Forest Fire Service since 1967.  Four single engine airtankers (SEATs) will be on duty during the 2012 spring fire season, with each of the three Divisions in the NJ Forest Fire Service having one SEAT. Division A (northern NJ) is the sole exception where two SEATs will be on call for a two week period in April. As of March 6, 2012 the schedule is as follows:

Division A: Aeroflex
Alpha 2 300 AgCat March 26-May 4 (40 days)
Alpha 3 300 AgCat April 7-April 21 (14 days)

Division B: Coyle
Bravo 1 602 Air Tractor March 31 - May 7 (38 days)

Division C: Downstown
Charlie 1 602 Air Tractor March 30 - May 6 (38 days)

SEATs sometimes cross into another Division, when that happens an AgCat will placed in service so that no Division is left unprotected.

Readers of this blog will know that safety is very big deal in wildland fire fighting, whether it be on the ground or in the air. Annual training, sometimes known as recurrency training is important for both ground firefighters and aerial firefighters. I'd like to take a few moments to share some of my impressions and reflections with you.

I was struck by the commitment of everyone in the room (actually a hanger) to safety. Its hard to explain, but I felt like safety was "in the air" in the hanger that morning. Safety, the firefighters on the ground and the pilots working together so that they are safe. All the firefighters being safe while they are doing their jobs of putting out wildland fires and keeping NJ safe.

Communications. Safety is about communications. Going over the radio frequencies used by all divisions in the NJFFS including air to ground. Everyone working the fire knows the frequency being used. Air to ground, the frequencies that the ground firefighters use to talk to the pilots. Thinking before engaging the mic on the radio, using standard terminology that is clear and concise. The importance of listening first to be sure that no one else is using the same frequency. Get a new frequency if the one being used is congested and being sure that all know what the new frequency is. Ground fire fighters give references to the pilots based on the direction that the aircraft is traveling.

Everyone, firefighters on the ground, base personnel, and pilots work together to be sure that aircraft operations are safe. The pilot has ultimate responsibility for the safety of the aircraft. Aviation safety starts with a safe aircraft, that is operated in safe manner.

Review of airports that aircraft can use for refueling. In particular airports with jet fuel A used by the Airtractor 602. You can't get more basic then having fuel for the aircraft and knowing where available fuel is.

The life of a heavy tanker, her crew and support personnel

If you want to read about all that is involved in flying a heavy firefighting air tanker, then there is a nice article that you will want to read. You will learn a little about Minden's T-55, captain and pic Greg Hock. T-55 was based at a temporary tanker base in Abilene TX when the article was written. You will learn a little about life on a tanker base as well as what is like when the tanker is making a drop on a fire.

There are periods of inactivity between fires when the pic and co-pilot have to stay on call. When the call comes, the pic and co-pilot arrive within 15 minutes. The tanker (T-55 in this case) is loaded with retardant and off she goes.

The article also introduces you to some of the many other support personnel that are necessary for aerial wildland fire support operations. A variety of personnel are necessary including aircraft maintenance personnel (including A&P mechanics), those involved in mixing and loading the retardant into the tanker, base and ramp personnel and others.

Michael Archer of The Firebomber Publications Blog aka Wildfire News of the Day, included the article in his March 4, 2012 entry. The article itself was written for the March 4 edition of the Abilene TX Reporter News. I'd also like to another friend who made me aware of the article around the time that I found it on the Fire Publications Blog.

As always, I'm never quite certain how long links from the online edition of print media are freely available. So, if you come here and the link no longer works, that is why. October 6, 2016, I just realized that the link to the March 4, 2012 is no longer available and perhaps it hasn't been for a long time. Unfortunately, I did not save a copy of the article so I can not provide more of a summary for you. As some of you no doubt know, on June 3, 2012 T-55 landed in Minden NV with only two of three gear (see my my June 4 2012 article) . Both pilots survived. To the best of my knowledge, T-55 has not returned to service. 

CFIT: VFR pilot into instrument conditions

Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT) "accounts for 17 percent of all general aviation fatalities ... ." (FAA Advisory Circular 61-134, p.1). One type of CFIT accident involves visual flight rules (VFR) only pilots, i.e pilots without an instrument flight rules (IFR) rating, flying in marginal visibility or in instrument conditions.

The practice of attempting to maintain visual flight in marginal visibility or in instrument conditions is referred to as scud running. "CFIT occurs when an airworthy aircraft is flown, under the control of a qualified pilot, into terrain (water or obstacles) with inadequate awareness on the part of the pilot of the impending collision" (FAA Advisory Circular 61-134, p.3).

Many pilots scud run, some live. Some don't.

It is Sunday afternoon, time to go home after a pleasant weekend away visiting friends not far from the mountains. You are worried about the weather, there has been talk of a rain storm coming from the west. You have to fly west to go home, perhaps a 175 nautical mile (NM) flight. You might be able to make it in under 1.5 hours in your Cessna Cutlass.

You get a weather briefing, the bottom of the cloud deck is currently at 3,000 ft  above ground level (AGL), but conditions are forecast to get worse with lower ceilings at about 1,200 feet expected at your home airport in about 1.5 to 2 hours. The mountains between you and home climb anywhere from 2 to 4,000 feet above the elevation of the airport where you landed on Friday,.  But you have flown this route before and know where there is a highway that travels at a lower elevation through the mountains.

You and your son get your things together and drive to the nearby airport. You fueled the plane after landing Friday morning. You are set to go. You take off heading west and level off at 2,500 ft AGL. You find the highway west after a few minutes of flying. Some of the taller mountain tops are shrouded in clouds.  You had a GPS installed in the Cutlass recently. There are still a few features that you need to figure out.

You fly along at 2,500 ft AGL for about 20 minutes, glancing down to check your GPS every so often. You continue to follow the highway.

But then things start to get worse.

Ceilings are lower than forecast, so as the bottom of the cloud deck gets lower, you fly lower and descend to 2000 ft. AGL. As you fly along, the cloud deck continues to get lower and you fly lower and lower until you are just under 1,000 ft AGL flying perhaps a couple hundred feet under the clouds. Several minutes pass and it starts to rain, you aren't worried about the rain because your outside air temperature gauge says that the temps are about 45 degrees F. You are now at about 600 ft above the highway and your eyes are glued outside the cockpit looking ahead at the road below. You are OK because you know where the highway is. On a couple of occasions you have followed the highway west flying VFR, and have also driven west along the same road.

You are losing sight of the highway. Where is it? You fly lower. Oh, is that it down there? You don't know. You keep flying. You don't see that the Terrain Avoidance Warning System (TAWS) in the GPS is flashing, first yellow and then red. When you see the mountain it is too late. You pull back on the yoke and take your son's hand. Too late!

__________________________

The above scenario is fictional. There are many real fatal accidents in the NTSB database where the pilot attempts to maintain visual flight in instrument conditions resulting in a controlled flight into terrain. I've read some of them.

The AOPA Air Safety Institute's video, 178 Seconds to Live depicts a similar scenario to the fictional scenario that I have described above. There is no GPS, but you will get an idea of what you might see from the cockpit when a VFR only pilot ends up in instrument conditions. I was not able to get the embed code to work, but you should be able to watch the video from the link I provided. Added on December 18, 2014, I have updated the link to the 178 Seconds to Live video from the AOPA Air Safety Institute. A heads up that I was unable to get the video to play in my Firefox browser but it worked in Safari and Chrome. For those you who are interested in seeing the video (I recommend it), there is a similar video that I found from the Civial Aviation Safety Authority in Australia (go here) on YouTube.

I'd like to thank the staff of the Air Safety Institute who assisted me as I was researching this article. I'd also like to thank my pilot friends and my friends at my home airport.

Aviation Weather: Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts (TAF)

I wrote about an aviation weather product known as a METARs the other day. Today I am going to focus on the Terminal Aerodrome Forecast (TAF) that uses the same coding that the METAR uses.

TAFs are issued four times a day by the National Weather Service. As its name suggests, the TAF is a weather forecast of particular interest to aviation interests. A TAF is written for a specific airport, usually a larger airport, extending out to five statute miles from the center of the airport. They are updated four times a day, covering a 30 hour time period. When the forecaster determines that the forecast is no longer valid, an amended TAF will be issue superseding  the earlier forecast. A 30 hour TAF is often broken down into specific time periods reflecting a forecast of changing weather conditions.

Before going on a scenic flight, I try to check for TAFs for airports that are near or the route of the flight. Depending on where we are going, there might be two TAF for two airports. For example, late last summer, I flew to the NJ shore on one of my scenic rides. Two of the larger airports along the route had TAFs, Trenton (KTTN) and McGuire Air Force Base in Wrightstown NJ (KWRI), so I looked at TAFs for KTTN and KWRI. An added benefitis that when a TAF is issued for a specific airport, there is usually a METAR. So I will know the hourly weather report as well as a forecast.

You can get a TAF and a METAR for airports in the U.S. by going to one webpage from the National Weather Service (NWS) Aviation Digital Data Service (ADDS): go here to get a TAF. Enter the four digit code (will start with the letter "K") for your nearest international airport in the little box, select TAF, highlight the translate button and then select get TAF. If you aren't sure what the four letter code is for the nearest international airport in your State, you might find your code in this list of Class B airports in the US or this list of Class C airports.

At 1 PM EST (6 PM UTC) on March 2, I went to the NWS ADDS TAF page and got the latest TAF for Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark NJ (KEWR), note that if you try this you will probably get a different TAF. If you want to translate universal or greenwich mean time (UTC) into your time, go here, look for United Kingdom - England - London to get UTC time.

You will see in the TAF below the forecast passage of low pressure system through Newark later today into tomorrow with a low cloud deck and rain. Also note the forecasted change in wind direction and speed.

Forecast for: KEWR (NEWARK , NJ, US)

TAF (coded): KEWR 021723Z 0218/0324 14008KT P6SM BKN015 OVC025
Forecast period: 1800 to 2200 UTC 02 March 2012
Forecast type: FROM: standard forecast or significant change
Winds: from the SE (140 degrees) at 9 MPH (8 knots; 4.2 m/s)
Visibility: 6 or more miles (10+ km)
Ceiling: 1500 feet AGL
Clouds: broken clouds at 1500 feet AGL
overcast cloud deck at 2500 feet AGL
Weather: no significant weather forecast for this period

TAF (coded): FM022200 13010KT P6SM BKN015 OVC025
Forecast period: 2200 UTC 02 March 2012 to 0200 UTC 03 March 2012
Forecast type: FROM: standard forecast or significant change
Winds: from the SE (130 degrees) at 12 MPH (10 knots; 5.2 m/s)
Visibility: 6 or more miles (10+ km)
Ceiling: 1500 feet AGL
Clouds: broken clouds at 1500 feet AGL
overcast cloud deck at 2500 feet AGL
Weather: no significant weather forecast for this period

TAF (coded): FM030200 11014KT 4SM -RA BKN009 OVC015
Forecast period: 0200 to 0400 UTC 03 March 2012
Forecast type: FROM: standard forecast or significant change
Winds: from the ESE (110 degrees) at 16 MPH (14 knots; 7.3 m/s)
Visibility: 4 miles (6 km)
Ceiling: 900 feet AGL Clouds: broken clouds at 900 feet AGL
overcast cloud deck at 1500 feet AGL
Weather: -RA  (light rain)

TAF (coded): FM030400 08010KT 1SM -RA BR OVC004
Forecast period: 0400 to 1000 UTC 03 March 2012
Forecast type: FROM: standard forecast or significant change
Winds: from the E (80 degrees) at 12 MPH (10 knots; 5.2 m/s)
Visibility: 1.00 miles (1.61 km)
Ceiling: 400 feet AGL
Clouds: overcast cloud deck at 400 feet AGL
Weather: -RA BR  (light rain, mist)

TAF (coded): FM031000 VRB06KT 1SM -RA BR OVC004
Forecast period: 1000 to 1400 UTC 03 March 2012
Forecast type: FROM: standard forecast or significant change
Winds: variable direction winds at 7 MPH (6 knots; 3.1 m/s)
Visibility: 1.00 miles (1.61 km)
Ceiling: 400 feet AGL
Clouds: overcast cloud deck at 400 feet AGL
Weather: -RA BR  (light rain, mist)

TAF (coded): FM031400 28012KT P6SM BKN012 BKN050
Forecast period: 1400 to 1700 UTC 03 March 2012
Forecast type: FROM: standard forecast or significant change
Winds: from the W (280 degrees) at 14 MPH (12 knots; 6.2 m/s)
Visibility: 6 or more miles (10+ km)
Ceiling: 1200 feet AGL
Clouds: broken clouds at 1200 feet AGL
broken clouds at 5000 feet AGL
Weather: no significant weather forecast for this period

TAF (coded): FM031700 28013G20KT P6SM BKN050
Forecast period: 1700 to 2000 UTC 03 March 2012
Forecast type: FROM: standard forecast or significant change
Winds: from the W (280 degrees) at 15 MPH (13 knots; 6.8 m/s)
gusting to 23 MPH (20 knots; 10.4 m/s)
Visibility: 6 or more miles (10+ km)
Ceiling: 5000 feet AGL
Clouds: broken clouds at 5000 feet AGL
Weather: no significant weather forecast for this period

TAF (coded): FM032000 26015G25KT P6SM SCT250
Forecast period: 2000 UTC 03 March 2012 to 0000 UTC 04 March 2012
Forecast type: FROM: standard forecast or significant change
Winds: from the W (260 degrees) at 17 MPH (15 knots; 7.8 m/s)
gusting to 29 MPH (25 knots; 13.0 m/s)
Visibility: 6 or more miles (10+ km)
Clouds: scattered clouds at 25000 feet AGL
Weather: no significant weather forecast for this period

For now, this wraps up my articles on aviation weather products. I will be revisiting aviation weather topics from time to time.

June 13, 2014: Someone asked me why the weather products are coded. I don't really know the answer to this question at this time. I just know that when I was learning about various aviation weather reports that I learned about the codes. Fortunately, in the link to the NWS digital aviation weather service that I provided above you can select a button to get a translated TAF. I'll try to find an answer to this question and when I do, I'll post another update.

June 27, 2014: I posted a response to the question of why TAF and METAR weather products are coded in an article that I posted on June 27, 2014 called "Why are METARs and TAFs coded?".

References
U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Flight Standards Service. Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (2008), pp 12-10 to 12-11 obtained from this page on the FAA website where individual chapters may be downloaded. Chapter 12 is devoted to Aviation Weather Services.

U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service. U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration. Aviation Weather Services, Advisory Circular AC 00-45G (2011) obtained from the FAA, pp. 7-19 to 7-35.