I am in a hurry to finish todays work on my blog in advance of thunderstorms moving through my area. As a non-pilot aviation enthusiast, I am always interested in aviation safety in addition to weather safety.
I found this excellent video from the Air Safety Institute of the AOPA where an Air Traffic Controller talks about thunderstorm, the target audience is pilots. But I think that all of us can learn from this. At the very least, you will learn what Air Traffic Controllers (ATC) due to keep airplanes safe in the sky when thunderstorms are in the area. You will hear the ATCs in the video talk about pireps, short for pilot reports that pilots make to ATC.
Direct link to video from Air Safety Institute
CAL FIRE (CDF) S2T Tanker 71 working Sawtooth Complex Fire (2006)
Sawtooth Complex Fire (Sept. 2006), San Bernardino County CA. Photo Credit: U.S. Forest Service
Showing posts with label Aviation weather. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aviation weather. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 07, 2019
Wednesday, September 06, 2017
Reflections (sort of) on Aviation Weather
Regular readings of this blog know that I am a non-pilot aviation enthusiast as well as a weather enthusiast. Over the years, I have become acquainted with the NWS Aviation Weather Center website. I am grateful for the opportunity to sit in, as a non-pilot aviation enthusiast, to private pilot ground school a few years ago where I first learned the basics of the various aviation weather tools that pilots use. I augmented this with my own self study over the years. I appreciate that a good knowledge of aviation weather and the various tools available to pilots saves lives. But more than that, learning about aviation weather is somewhat complicated.
The origins of this post stems from reading an article on the AOPA website about a fly-in that the AOPA is hosting in Norman, Oklahoma. Participants in this fly-in will have the privilege to tour the Aviation Weather Center for a small charge, and there is a two-day workshop, for more information go here. I would love to be in a position to go to any part of this event! But for various reasons, I can not.
I had decided when I first learned of this fly-in a few days ago on the AOPA website that I wanted to make a post about the Aviation Weather that both showed my respect for the staff of the NWC Aviation Weather Center and respected the complexity of Aviation Weather.
Knowing that AOPA Air Safety Institute (ASI) does good work on air safety for pilots, and knowing that they have a lot of videos on various issues of air safety on their Youtube channel, I decided to find one of the videos on aviation weather. It turns out the the ASI was an eight part series on aviation weather for pilots that they call Weather Wise, the link to all eight videos on Youtube may be found here (or at least it was as I write this article on September 6th).
I am sharing here the first video in ASI's eight part Weather Wise series, called Weather Wise Gathering Information. The video is aimed at pilots who should already have a good working knowledge of the NWS Aviation Weather Center as well as at least one of the various private Aviation Weather Platforms used by pilots that are available on the web. For those of you who are not pilots, I hope that your take away is how important pre-flight weather planning and briefings are to all pilots (private, commercial, airline pilots, military pilots, ag pilots, tanker pilots, etc. etc).
The origins of this post stems from reading an article on the AOPA website about a fly-in that the AOPA is hosting in Norman, Oklahoma. Participants in this fly-in will have the privilege to tour the Aviation Weather Center for a small charge, and there is a two-day workshop, for more information go here. I would love to be in a position to go to any part of this event! But for various reasons, I can not.
I had decided when I first learned of this fly-in a few days ago on the AOPA website that I wanted to make a post about the Aviation Weather that both showed my respect for the staff of the NWC Aviation Weather Center and respected the complexity of Aviation Weather.
Knowing that AOPA Air Safety Institute (ASI) does good work on air safety for pilots, and knowing that they have a lot of videos on various issues of air safety on their Youtube channel, I decided to find one of the videos on aviation weather. It turns out the the ASI was an eight part series on aviation weather for pilots that they call Weather Wise, the link to all eight videos on Youtube may be found here (or at least it was as I write this article on September 6th).
I am sharing here the first video in ASI's eight part Weather Wise series, called Weather Wise Gathering Information. The video is aimed at pilots who should already have a good working knowledge of the NWS Aviation Weather Center as well as at least one of the various private Aviation Weather Platforms used by pilots that are available on the web. For those of you who are not pilots, I hope that your take away is how important pre-flight weather planning and briefings are to all pilots (private, commercial, airline pilots, military pilots, ag pilots, tanker pilots, etc. etc).
Friday, June 27, 2014
Why are METARs and TAFs coded?
It took a little doing but I finally found an answer to the question posed by an anonymous reader after reading this article on TAFs that I wrote on March 2, March 2012.
I literally stumbled upon the following website from the National Climatic Data Center a couple of days ago: METAR/TAF Information Page, probably written some time before July 1, 1996. This webpage provided me with a link to their Program Overview Page that I hope is at least a partial answer, based on conditions in 1996, to the question on why coding is still used: (1) METARs and TAFs are in standard use globally, at least by the majority of countries meaning a standard set of inputs for global weather models and also benefiting pilots, and (2) using plain english even in todays era of high speed computers and communications would overwhelm weather related communications infrastructure.
I am basing my response to the question on why are TAFs/METARs coded in the first place on the METAR/TAF Information-Aviation Routine Weather Report and Aerodrome Forecast Information: Program Overview Page from the National Climatic Data Center (obtained on June 25, 2014). I hope that those of you are interested will read the entire METAR/TAF Information Program Overview. I'll be summarizing and quoting salient sections here.
On July 1, 1996 the United States adopted METAR and TAF coding, the final step in the transition to this coding. METAR and TAF coding represented a major change, replacing older coding for airport surface weather observations and terminal forecasts that dated back to the early 1950s.
The following explanation explains why the change to the standardize METAR and TAF coding was important:
On the matter of overwhelming 1996 communications infrastructure, I am not exactly in a position to speak to whether or not the same applies in 2014.
Are there other answers to the question on why METARs and TAFs are coded that I don't know about? Perhaps. Answers that I am unaware of speaking to conditions in 2014? Perhaps. Nor am I in a position to speculate here about the rational for coding that predated the adoption of METARs and TAFs in 1996. But for now, after spending two more days earlier this week reading a variety of information on the history of aviation weather forecasting and weather forecasting, I am glad to have even a partial answer for you.
© 2014 randomramblingsnj
Why are TAFs and METARs coded in the first place? (see my article of June 16, 2014)
I literally stumbled upon the following website from the National Climatic Data Center a couple of days ago: METAR/TAF Information Page, probably written some time before July 1, 1996. This webpage provided me with a link to their Program Overview Page that I hope is at least a partial answer, based on conditions in 1996, to the question on why coding is still used: (1) METARs and TAFs are in standard use globally, at least by the majority of countries meaning a standard set of inputs for global weather models and also benefiting pilots, and (2) using plain english even in todays era of high speed computers and communications would overwhelm weather related communications infrastructure.
I am basing my response to the question on why are TAFs/METARs coded in the first place on the METAR/TAF Information-Aviation Routine Weather Report and Aerodrome Forecast Information: Program Overview Page from the National Climatic Data Center (obtained on June 25, 2014). I hope that those of you are interested will read the entire METAR/TAF Information Program Overview. I'll be summarizing and quoting salient sections here.
On July 1, 1996 the United States adopted METAR and TAF coding, the final step in the transition to this coding. METAR and TAF coding represented a major change, replacing older coding for airport surface weather observations and terminal forecasts that dated back to the early 1950s.
The following explanation explains why the change to the standardize METAR and TAF coding was important:
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which determines aviation requirements in the United States, has determined that the domestic transition to the METAR/TAF code is vital to the standardization of these reports worldwide. The National Weather Service (NWS) and Department of Defense (DOD) are complying with this requirement. The benefits of having the U.S. standardize to these new code formats are as follows. Hourly and special observations are used both as stand alone data for the sites and as inputs to global weather models for both analysis and forecasting. It is this global use of each small bit of information which drives the need for standardization. Additionally, the increase in international flights between the U.S. and other nations from more U.S. locations than ever before lends itself to developing a more "seamless" international standard for aviation. Moreover, standardization becomes vital for the general aviation community for flights from the U.S. to Canada, the Caribbean Area, and Mexico (METAR/TAF Information -- Aviation Routine Weather Report and Aerodrome Forecast Information: Program Overview accessed on June 25, 2014 from http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/wdc/metar/index.php?name=overview).As for why plain english is not used, the METAR/TAF Information -- Aviation Routine Weather Report and Aerodrome Forecast Information Program Overview page from the National Climatic Data Center (probably written a few months prior to July 1, 1996 when the older coding was still in use) has this to say:
Despite all the high speed computers and communications that we have today a weather code is still required but is nothing new. The current SA code has been in place for over 40 years, and the conversion to METAR is a follow-on which is not very different. As for having these products reported in a plain language format, this is not feasible. Despite the advances in today's technology, the communication circuits used for transmitting the large and diverse suite of meteorological products (radar, upper air, climatological data, forecasts, watches, warnings, outlooks, etc.) have a finite capacity. The conversion to a plain language format for thousands of domestic and international observations that are generated each hour of the day is impractical and would easily overwhelm our meteorological communication circuits. However, having now standardized to a considerable extent does allow computer programs to expand the "code" into plain language. (METAR/TAF Information -- Aviation Routine Weather Report and Aerodrome Forecast Information: Program Overview accessed on June 25, 2014 from http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/wdc/metar/index.php?name=overview).I suspect, but am not certain that the need for a standard international format for TAFs and METARs still exist today. As I understand it, global weather models continue to be used so I would think that the need for standardized inputs remain. And international air travels continues.
On the matter of overwhelming 1996 communications infrastructure, I am not exactly in a position to speak to whether or not the same applies in 2014.
Are there other answers to the question on why METARs and TAFs are coded that I don't know about? Perhaps. Answers that I am unaware of speaking to conditions in 2014? Perhaps. Nor am I in a position to speculate here about the rational for coding that predated the adoption of METARs and TAFs in 1996. But for now, after spending two more days earlier this week reading a variety of information on the history of aviation weather forecasting and weather forecasting, I am glad to have even a partial answer for you.
© 2014 randomramblingsnj
Monday, June 16, 2014
Aviation Weather Forecasts: Revisiting METAR/TAF coding
Over two years ago I wrote a couple of articles on the coding used in certain aviation weather forecast products -- METARS and TAFs. My intention being to share a little about what I had learned about the aviation weather products that I sometimes use. Some of you know that I am not a pilot, so I engage pilots to take me on scenic flights. Nonetheless, I do want to take a look at weather forecasts and current weather conditions before going on scenic flights. It is sort of fun for me.
As I hope that I wrote about in those articles, the coding used in METARS and TAFs is not intuitive and takes some getting used to. Student pilots studying to be private pilots have to learn the coding used in these two aviation weather products along with other aviation weather products as a part of their preparation to take the required FAA exams before obtaining their private pilot's license.
What I failed to consider when writing the two articles that I am referring to in this article is whyTAFs and METARs are coded in the first place. Someone asked me this very question (which I have rewritten here) a few days ago:
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?".
As I hope that I wrote about in those articles, the coding used in METARS and TAFs is not intuitive and takes some getting used to. Student pilots studying to be private pilots have to learn the coding used in these two aviation weather products along with other aviation weather products as a part of their preparation to take the required FAA exams before obtaining their private pilot's license.
What I failed to consider when writing the two articles that I am referring to in this article is whyTAFs and METARs are coded in the first place. Someone asked me this very question (which I have rewritten here) a few days ago:
Why are the TAFs and METARs coded in the first place?I have spent several hours over the last few days trying to find an answer to this very good question. So far, I have some ideas, but I have been unsuccessful. I have real answer to why the TAFs and METARs are coded in the first place nor do I know for certain the origins of this coding. I am going to keep looking for an answer.
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?".
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Thunderstorm clouds aka cumulonimbus from the air
When I was flying across the U.S. on United a few weeks back I had the opportunity to see not one, but two cumulonimbus (thunder storm) clouds from the air. I am certain that we were at a safe distance from both of these cloud formations, flying at an altitude of 36,000 ft.
What happened was either the captain or the first-officer made an announcement that they were asking us to stay seated with our seat belts fastened as we passed between two areas of thunderstorms. It is hard to tell distance in the air, at least it is for this novice. But I am certain that we were at a safe distance of at least 25 km from each area of thunderstorms. They were quite impressive and a little scary as we could not see the tops of either cumulonimbus. In a matter of minutes we were clear of the worst of the cumulonimbus, and there was little if any turbulence. Or at least little turbulence that I felt. None the less, I was glad to be clear of them.
As many of you know, cumulus clouds often, but not always develop into much more dangerous cumulonimbus clouds.
The National Weather Service's JetStream - Online School for Weather has an excellent lesson on thunderstorms where those of you who are so inclined can go and learn more about thunderstorms. For some great photos of cumulonimbus, there are some nice photos on the S'COOL On-Line cloud chart of cumulonimbus clouds.
Finally, I thought you might enjoy a video called Day of the Cumulonimbus. You will have to follow the link to watch the video as the person who posted the video to youtube did not enable embedding. The video is about five minutes long and I think that you will enjoy it.
What happened was either the captain or the first-officer made an announcement that they were asking us to stay seated with our seat belts fastened as we passed between two areas of thunderstorms. It is hard to tell distance in the air, at least it is for this novice. But I am certain that we were at a safe distance of at least 25 km from each area of thunderstorms. They were quite impressive and a little scary as we could not see the tops of either cumulonimbus. In a matter of minutes we were clear of the worst of the cumulonimbus, and there was little if any turbulence. Or at least little turbulence that I felt. None the less, I was glad to be clear of them.
As many of you know, cumulus clouds often, but not always develop into much more dangerous cumulonimbus clouds.
The National Weather Service's JetStream - Online School for Weather has an excellent lesson on thunderstorms where those of you who are so inclined can go and learn more about thunderstorms. For some great photos of cumulonimbus, there are some nice photos on the S'COOL On-Line cloud chart of cumulonimbus clouds.
Finally, I thought you might enjoy a video called Day of the Cumulonimbus. You will have to follow the link to watch the video as the person who posted the video to youtube did not enable embedding. The video is about five minutes long and I think that you will enjoy it.
Friday, March 02, 2012
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.
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.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Aviation Weather: Meteorological Aviation Routine Report (METAR)
I promised you last Friday that I would write about one of the aviation weather products this week. There is one type of surface weather report that some of you may have seen on some weather sites on the internet, the METAR. METAR stands for Meteorological Aviation Routine Report. METARs, used worldwide, are coded reports with each country making modifications for use in their specific country.
Routine METARs are done on an hourly basis, usually at airports. Some METARs are done automatically (without the benefit of humans) and will include the code "AUTO". Other METARs are done for special weather reports and are labeled "SPECI". METAR's are but one of the sources of aviation weather information used by pilots as a part of their pre-flight planning and while enroute. I access METARs over the internet, which I'll get to in a moment, and most of the METARs that I have accessed are those done on an hourly basis.
Ok, I mentioned that METAR reports are coded, and I'll include an example in a moment along with a translation. You may have seen a METAR, perhaps on Intellicast Weather or Weather Underground, hopefully these links will take you directly to pages for Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, NJ where you can see the coded METAR. On Weather Underground, look for the METAR under current data on the left side of the page, they provide a nice METAR faq where you can go to learn about how to decode the METAR. The METAR on the intellicast website should be in the box labeled current conditions near the top left side of the page.
Here is a coded METAR and translation which I got using the form found on the the NWS Aviation digital data website (note 1):
METAR (code) text: KEWR 291951Z 06008KT 2SM RA BR BKN010 OVC020 06/03 A3001 RMK AO2 SLP161 CIG 009V011 P0010 T00560033
TRANSLATION (note 2,3):
Conditions at: KEWR (NEWARK , NJ, US) observed 1951 UTC 29 February 2012
Temperature: 5.6°C (42°F)
Dewpoint: 3.3°C (38°F) [RH = 85%]
Pressure (altimeter): 30.01 inches Hg (1016.3 mb)
[Sea-level pressure: 1016.1 mb]
Winds: from the ENE (60 degrees) at 9 MPH (8 knots; 4.2 m/s)
Visibility: 2.00 miles (3.22 km)
Ceiling: 1000 feet AGL
Clouds: broken clouds at 1000 feet AGL
overcast cloud deck at 2000 feet AGL
Weather: RA BR (rain, mist)
The coding in METARs take some getting used, and are covered in the FAA Private Pilot Exam. I like METARs and will look for METARs before I go on a scenic flight. Checking out the METARs are also an easy way to see weather conditions around my region.
Notes:
(1) This page is used to access both METARs and TAFs (Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts), a forecast for a five mile radius around the airport mentioned in the TAF. I'll cover those in a later article. Most of your major international airports in the US will have TAF reports for their terminal (5 mile radius) area.
(2) UTC stands for coordinated time universal or universal time. You may see UTC time referred to by the letter "Z" in coded reports such as the METAR above. UTC is also Greenwich Mean Time (obtained at the observatory in Greenwich England (near London). UTC time is used for all aviation weather information products, and takes a little getting used. If you want to know what UTC time is in your time zone, go to this website.
(3) The National Weather Service has a guide that may be found here that aids in translating the coding used in METARs and TAFs.
References:
U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Flight Standards Service. Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (2008), pp 12-6 to 12-8 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. 3-1 to 3-31.
Routine METARs are done on an hourly basis, usually at airports. Some METARs are done automatically (without the benefit of humans) and will include the code "AUTO". Other METARs are done for special weather reports and are labeled "SPECI". METAR's are but one of the sources of aviation weather information used by pilots as a part of their pre-flight planning and while enroute. I access METARs over the internet, which I'll get to in a moment, and most of the METARs that I have accessed are those done on an hourly basis.
Ok, I mentioned that METAR reports are coded, and I'll include an example in a moment along with a translation. You may have seen a METAR, perhaps on Intellicast Weather or Weather Underground, hopefully these links will take you directly to pages for Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, NJ where you can see the coded METAR. On Weather Underground, look for the METAR under current data on the left side of the page, they provide a nice METAR faq where you can go to learn about how to decode the METAR. The METAR on the intellicast website should be in the box labeled current conditions near the top left side of the page.
Here is a coded METAR and translation which I got using the form found on the the NWS Aviation digital data website (note 1):
METAR (code) text: KEWR 291951Z 06008KT 2SM RA BR BKN010 OVC020 06/03 A3001 RMK AO2 SLP161 CIG 009V011 P0010 T00560033
TRANSLATION (note 2,3):
Conditions at: KEWR (NEWARK , NJ, US) observed 1951 UTC 29 February 2012
Temperature: 5.6°C (42°F)
Dewpoint: 3.3°C (38°F) [RH = 85%]
Pressure (altimeter): 30.01 inches Hg (1016.3 mb)
[Sea-level pressure: 1016.1 mb]
Winds: from the ENE (60 degrees) at 9 MPH (8 knots; 4.2 m/s)
Visibility: 2.00 miles (3.22 km)
Ceiling: 1000 feet AGL
Clouds: broken clouds at 1000 feet AGL
overcast cloud deck at 2000 feet AGL
Weather: RA BR (rain, mist)
The coding in METARs take some getting used, and are covered in the FAA Private Pilot Exam. I like METARs and will look for METARs before I go on a scenic flight. Checking out the METARs are also an easy way to see weather conditions around my region.
Notes:
(1) This page is used to access both METARs and TAFs (Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts), a forecast for a five mile radius around the airport mentioned in the TAF. I'll cover those in a later article. Most of your major international airports in the US will have TAF reports for their terminal (5 mile radius) area.
(2) UTC stands for coordinated time universal or universal time. You may see UTC time referred to by the letter "Z" in coded reports such as the METAR above. UTC is also Greenwich Mean Time (obtained at the observatory in Greenwich England (near London). UTC time is used for all aviation weather information products, and takes a little getting used. If you want to know what UTC time is in your time zone, go to this website.
(3) The National Weather Service has a guide that may be found here that aids in translating the coding used in METARs and TAFs.
References:
U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Flight Standards Service. Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (2008), pp 12-6 to 12-8 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. 3-1 to 3-31.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Reflections on aviation weather
I am sitting here on a windy day with sustained winds about 20 mph +/- and winds gusting to about 40 mph. For the record, I did not even think about going on a scenic flight today because it is way too windy for that. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I will be able to go on a scenic flight this weekend.
In the last two years that I have been going on my scenic flights, weather has taken on a whole new meaning for me. A whole new world opened up for me. I was thinking about winds and temperatures at altitude, they are not the same as on the ground. I learned about different aviation weather reports and forecasts, and reports of other significant meteorological events of importance to pilots.
An important part of the pre-flight planning that pilots go through before going on a flight is being knowledgeable about current and forecast weather conditions along their flight route including their point of departure and their destination. When I was in ground school we spent a couple of sessions on weather and as all as the sources of aviation weather information that pilots and others use both for pre-flight planning as well as obtaining weather information enroute.
My intention was and still is, to find a way to write about some of these sources of aviation weather information that I have been using for the last couple of years. But this is proving to be a difficult task because many of these aviation weather products are written in a form of code in the form of specific abbreviations. These "codes" were a little daunting when I first encountered them, but slowly I got used to them. A couple of my aviation books have tables deciphering these codes that I still refer to from time to time.
Last night I had intended to start posting about some of the different types of aviation weather information that are freely available. I spent a couple of hours on this earlier today. However I quickly realized that it was getting way to complicated and even my eyes were starting to roll. So, I decided to regroup and spend a little more time on this, and perhaps come up with some good free sources on the internet that those of you who are interested can look at.
So for those of you came today looking for something from me on some of the specific types of aviation weather information, I'm sorry to disappoint. But having spent a couple of hours on this task this morning, I hope that I might be able to have something for you in a week or so, depending.
In the last two years that I have been going on my scenic flights, weather has taken on a whole new meaning for me. A whole new world opened up for me. I was thinking about winds and temperatures at altitude, they are not the same as on the ground. I learned about different aviation weather reports and forecasts, and reports of other significant meteorological events of importance to pilots.
An important part of the pre-flight planning that pilots go through before going on a flight is being knowledgeable about current and forecast weather conditions along their flight route including their point of departure and their destination. When I was in ground school we spent a couple of sessions on weather and as all as the sources of aviation weather information that pilots and others use both for pre-flight planning as well as obtaining weather information enroute.
My intention was and still is, to find a way to write about some of these sources of aviation weather information that I have been using for the last couple of years. But this is proving to be a difficult task because many of these aviation weather products are written in a form of code in the form of specific abbreviations. These "codes" were a little daunting when I first encountered them, but slowly I got used to them. A couple of my aviation books have tables deciphering these codes that I still refer to from time to time.
Last night I had intended to start posting about some of the different types of aviation weather information that are freely available. I spent a couple of hours on this earlier today. However I quickly realized that it was getting way to complicated and even my eyes were starting to roll. So, I decided to regroup and spend a little more time on this, and perhaps come up with some good free sources on the internet that those of you who are interested can look at.
So for those of you came today looking for something from me on some of the specific types of aviation weather information, I'm sorry to disappoint. But having spent a couple of hours on this task this morning, I hope that I might be able to have something for you in a week or so, depending.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Not quite in the clouds
I continue to work on learning to identify clouds. I went an scenic airplane flight with a great young pilot yesterday. It was a great flight, but a bit on the bumpy side. We were not flying very high, about 2,500 ft AGL going west and about 3,000 ft on the return flight going east.
As we were flying back, I told the pilot that I was studying weather, including identifying clouds. So we started talking about the scattered clouds that were about 1,000 ft or so above us. He pointed to one cloud just ahead of us, and said that is a cumulus cloud, and when we fly under it we will feel some turbulence. And yes, I felt the turbulence as we flew under the cloud.
I don't feel like am exactly in a position to say much more on clouds. But my flight yesterday did get me thinking about resources on the web where those of you are interested can go and learn more about clouds.
The National Weather Service has an online school of weather broken down into several topics. There topic on synoptic meteorology includes lessons on clouds and cloud classifications.
If you go to the cloud classification page, you will see that clouds are divided into high, middle, and low level clouds. Within each level are nine categories of clouds. You will see a sky watcher chart on this webpage with clickable pictures. You can learn about the 27 categories of clouds plus some special clouds. For example, here is a picture and some information about a cumulus cloud that may have been similar to the ones we flew under yesterday.
NASA has some nice resources for learning about clouds, including the aforementioned Sky Watcher Chart (you can download) and links to other resources on clouds, some of which are geared towards young people. I can tell you that this older person enjoyed these resources. Here is the NASA page on an Introduction to Clouds. Note, I tried to access this page on Feb. 13, 2012 and it seemed to be either offline or unavailable to the general public. In the event that this outage is temporary, I'm including the url here.
If you want to learn how clouds affect aviation interests, Pilot Outlook has a page on clouds.
As we were flying back, I told the pilot that I was studying weather, including identifying clouds. So we started talking about the scattered clouds that were about 1,000 ft or so above us. He pointed to one cloud just ahead of us, and said that is a cumulus cloud, and when we fly under it we will feel some turbulence. And yes, I felt the turbulence as we flew under the cloud.
I don't feel like am exactly in a position to say much more on clouds. But my flight yesterday did get me thinking about resources on the web where those of you are interested can go and learn more about clouds.
The National Weather Service has an online school of weather broken down into several topics. There topic on synoptic meteorology includes lessons on clouds and cloud classifications.
If you go to the cloud classification page, you will see that clouds are divided into high, middle, and low level clouds. Within each level are nine categories of clouds. You will see a sky watcher chart on this webpage with clickable pictures. You can learn about the 27 categories of clouds plus some special clouds. For example, here is a picture and some information about a cumulus cloud that may have been similar to the ones we flew under yesterday.
NASA has some nice resources for learning about clouds, including the aforementioned Sky Watcher Chart (you can download) and links to other resources on clouds, some of which are geared towards young people. I can tell you that this older person enjoyed these resources. Here is the NASA page on an Introduction to Clouds. Note, I tried to access this page on Feb. 13, 2012 and it seemed to be either offline or unavailable to the general public. In the event that this outage is temporary, I'm including the url here.
If you want to learn how clouds affect aviation interests, Pilot Outlook has a page on clouds.
Monday, January 16, 2012
air frame icing
I've been thinking about and reading up on airframe icing recently. Every pilot that I have talked to has agreed that situations where airframe icing may be encountered should be avoided. A typical comment from one of my pilot friends on the subject of icing might be:
You will want to see the information that the person who uploaded the video to youtube (trustyetverify) made here. The animation does not show one likely outcome, stall and crash. But you will get the picture. Pay careful attention to the changes in air flow during the animation. In the first few seconds you will see "normal" air flow before ice build up interferes with the air flow.
Before, or perhaps after you watch the video, if you want read a little more about airframe icing, here is a short article on the subject. Included in this article are two embedded videos, a 25 second animation on airframe icing and a 7 minute video from NASA on tail icing.
"airframe icing scares the wits out of me!"I was wondering the best way to share some information about airframe icing with you and I found this short two minute animation showing the effect of airframe icing. Wings create lift, and icing disrupts the flow of air over the wings. In this animation you will see:
- ice build up on the wings disrupting the airflow over the wings
- ice build up on the propellers (watch the props slow down)
- ice build up on the wind shield
- and ice build up on other surfaces (tail, fuselage, etc)
You will want to see the information that the person who uploaded the video to youtube (trustyetverify) made here. The animation does not show one likely outcome, stall and crash. But you will get the picture. Pay careful attention to the changes in air flow during the animation. In the first few seconds you will see "normal" air flow before ice build up interferes with the air flow.
Before, or perhaps after you watch the video, if you want read a little more about airframe icing, here is a short article on the subject. Included in this article are two embedded videos, a 25 second animation on airframe icing and a 7 minute video from NASA on tail icing.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Spending time with Weather
I don't need to tell anyone reading this blog how important weather is to aviation interests. Whether they be fixed-wing or rotor-wing aerial firefighting and support operations, general aviation interests, commercial, etc. etc. I spent a lot of time with weather when I was in ground school two years ago preparing for the FAA private pilot written exam (which I passed).
Over the last couple of weeks, I have decided that I want to spend more time learning about weather as applies to aviation. But also about weather in general. To that end, I have spent some time reviewing things like the different types of clouds and how to identify them, air masses, weather fronts, etc. I'm spending more time with aviation weather charts along with looking up at the sky to (try) identify the clouds.
I'm not quite sure where I am going to this in my blog at this point. I'm still figuring that part out.
In the meantime, here in northern NJ a cold front passed through early today, its passage was marked by snow squalls. The winds kicked up a couple of hours before the cold front arrived, and we were under a wind advisory all day, due to end at 6PM. Winds were sustained at about 20 mph with gusts in the range of 35 to 45 mph. Winds will die down over night. Or so they say.
Over the last couple of weeks, I have decided that I want to spend more time learning about weather as applies to aviation. But also about weather in general. To that end, I have spent some time reviewing things like the different types of clouds and how to identify them, air masses, weather fronts, etc. I'm spending more time with aviation weather charts along with looking up at the sky to (try) identify the clouds.
I'm not quite sure where I am going to this in my blog at this point. I'm still figuring that part out.
In the meantime, here in northern NJ a cold front passed through early today, its passage was marked by snow squalls. The winds kicked up a couple of hours before the cold front arrived, and we were under a wind advisory all day, due to end at 6PM. Winds were sustained at about 20 mph with gusts in the range of 35 to 45 mph. Winds will die down over night. Or so they say.
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