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METAR and TAF decoder

Paste an airfield weather report or forecast and see what every part of it means, in plain English. It works on UK and international reports.

An orange windsock standing out in the breeze at Barra airfield, with the beach and hills behind.
Photo: M J Richardson, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

The Met Office's own example, decoded. Paste your own report above.

EGLY: Wind from the west-south-west (240° true), 15 knots, visibility 8 km, light rain, broken cloud at 2,500 ft, 18°C, QNH 983 hPa.

Main report

GroupWhat it means
METARReport type. METAR: a routine observation of the weather at the airfield, made every half hour or hour.
EGLYAirfield. ICAO code of the reporting airfield. Codes starting EG are in the UK.
301220ZIssued. Issued on the 30th of the month at 12:20 UTC (Zulu time). UK time is UTC in winter and UTC plus one hour in summer.
24015KTWind. From the west-south-west (240° true), 15 knots (about 17 mph, 28 km/h).
200V280Wind direction varies. The direction is swinging between south-south-west (200°) and west (280°).
8000Visibility. 8 km.
-RAWeather. Light rain.
FEW010Cloud. A few clouds (1 to 2 eighths of the sky), with its base at 1,000 ft above the airfield.
BKN025Cloud. Broken cloud (5 to 7 eighths), with its base at 2,500 ft above the airfield.
18/15Temperature. Temperature 18°C, dew point 15°C. A 3°C spread between them.
Q0983Pressure. Pressure (QNH) 983 hPa, about 29.03 inHg. Pilots set this on the altimeter to read height above sea level.

Temporarily

GroupWhat it means
TEMPOChange. Temporary spells of the conditions below during the period given, between which the main forecast applies.
3000Visibility. 3,000 metres.
RAWeather. Rain.
BKN008Cloud. Broken cloud (5 to 7 eighths), with its base at 800 ft above the airfield.
OVC020Cloud. Overcast (the whole sky), with its base at 2,000 ft above the airfield.

Their airfield, on a print

Decode a report, then put its airfield on a print. The code, the airport name and its position fill in for you. Pick a size and add it to your bag.

£17.99A4 · Poster

EDI EDINBURGH · UNITED KINGDOM 55.9501° N, 3.3723° W
Preview drawn from the print's own template and typeface. It shows EDI until you type.

Airport name, country and coordinates
Background
Format
Frame
Frame
Size

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What goes on each line

The airport code, large, as you type it. Below it, the airport name and the country in capitals, joined by a middle dot. Then the coordinates, exactly as typed. A long line is set smaller so it stays on the item; a line still too long for the item is named before you can add it.

Delivery and returns

Delivery times by format, how to report a fault and what we reprint are all on the delivery and returns page.

Getting the file

Save the file somewhere safe once it arrives. If anything looks wrong, reply to that email and we will put it right.

A small distant airliner crossing a gap between tall cumulus clouds in a deep blue sky.
Cloud amount and height are two of the first things a pilot reads in a METAR.

What a METAR and a TAF are

A METAR is a weather report from an airfield. It says what the weather is doing right now: the wind, how far you can see, any rain or fog, the cloud, the temperature and the air pressure. Busy airfields send one every half hour or hour.

A TAF is the airfield's forecast. It covers a set period, written in the report itself, and says how the weather is expected to change through it.

Both are written in a short code so they fit on one line and read the same in every country. That is handy for pilots and baffling for everyone else, which is what this decoder is for. Paste one in and it explains each group in plain English.

A worked example

This is the first example on the Met Office's own decode sheet:

EGLY 301220Z 24015KT 200V280 8000 -RA FEW010 BKN025 18/15 Q0983 TEMPO 3000 RA BKN008 OVC020

  • EGLY is the airfield's four-letter ICAO code. Codes starting EG are in the UK.
  • 301220Z means the 30th of the month at 12:20 UTC. The Z is "Zulu", the aviation name for UTC.
  • 24015KT is the wind: from 240 degrees, which is west-south-west, at 15 knots. A knot is one nautical mile an hour, about 1.15 mph.
  • 200V280 says the wind direction is swinging between 200 and 280 degrees.
  • 8000 is the visibility, 8,000 metres. 9999 would mean 10 km or more.
  • -RA is light rain. A plus sign means heavy; no sign means moderate.
  • FEW010 BKN025 is the cloud: a few clouds at 1,000 ft, and broken cloud at 2,500 ft. The heights are in hundreds of feet above the airfield.
  • 18/15 is the temperature, 18°C, and the dew point, 15°C. When the two get close, mist and low cloud become likely.
  • Q0983 is the pressure, 983 hectopascals. Pilots set it on the altimeter so it reads their height above sea level.
  • TEMPO 3000 RA BKN008 OVC020 is the trend: spells of 3,000 m visibility in rain, with cloud lower down.
A watercolour of a grass field by runway approach lights with a large airliner passing very low overhead.
When the visibility drops, the report adds the runway visual range: how far a pilot can see the runway lights.

The cloud words

Cloud is measured in eighths of the sky, which pilots call oktas. FEW is 1 to 2 eighths, SCT (scattered) is 3 to 4, BKN (broken) is 5 to 7 and OVC (overcast) is the whole sky. CB after a cloud group means cumulonimbus, the thunderstorm cloud, and TCU means towering cumulus. CAVOK, said "cav-oh-kay", is the one everyone hopes for: good visibility, no low cloud and nothing troublesome going on.

What this decoder doesn't do

It reads the report you paste. It doesn't fetch live weather, so for flight planning get the current reports from an official source such as the Met Office aviation service. It doesn't break down runway surface groups, and it shows the remarks after RMK as written, because they differ from country to country. If it meets a group it doesn't know, it tells you rather than guessing.

The decoding follows the Met Office METAR and TAF decode sheets, read on 29 October 2026, and it also understands the American style of visibility in statute miles and pressure in inches of mercury.

Their airfield, on the wall

Every METAR starts with an airfield code. If one of those codes means something to someone you know, the airport code print sets it in big type with the airport's name and position beneath.

Written by Craig Fearn, The Aviation Gift Co. Last updated .

Questions, answered

What does METAR stand for?
The Met Office calls it a Meteorological Airfield Report, and everyone just says "METAR". It is the current weather at one airfield, sent every half hour or hour.
What is the difference between a METAR and a TAF?
A METAR is what the weather is doing now. A TAF is the forecast for the airfield over a set period, with groups like BECMG (becoming) and TEMPO (temporarily) to show the changes.
Why does it say Z after the time?
Z stands for Zulu, the aviation name for UTC. In the UK that is the same as clock time in winter and one hour behind it in summer.
What does 9999 mean?
Visibility of 10 km or more. 0000 means less than 50 metres.
What does CAVOK mean?
Ceiling and visibility OK: visibility 10 km or more, no cloud below 5,000 ft, no cumulonimbus or towering cumulus, and no weather that matters to aviation.
Can I use this to plan a flight?
Use it to understand a report. For planning, get the current METARs and TAFs from an official source such as the Met Office, and check them with your instructor or the rules you fly under.