
Getting METARs is actually the easy part. They also have a really neat feature that helps you decode METARs. You can print your flight as well as the weather in one packet you can take with you. I used every day when I flew for a Part 135 operation, and highly recommend it. Pilots can plan their flight, create and file a flight plan and get weather all in one location on.
#Thunder in the vicinity meaning software#
While the AWC website is a great resource for checking the weather, oftentimes, flight planning software like is a better way to get weather.

I also suggest you print the airport diagram even if you have Foreflight.

I suggest you print them and take them with you in the aircraft. TAFs, on the other hand, cover a 24 to 30 hour period and they are published 6 times a day (0000, 0600, 1200, 1800).ĪDDS lets you print out the METARs and TAFs. They are usually refreshed around 55 past the hour. The METAR only gives you a small snapshot in time. I suggest you always choose both METARs and TAFs. Enter the airport identifier of the airport(s) you need. It doesn’t matter which since both tabs will let you select both METARs and TAFs. But if you don’t use iOS devices, check out this article on the Top 8 Weather Apps for Pilots.įor those of you who want free, here is a screenshot from the Aviation Digital Data Service-Aviation Weather Center (ADDS-AWC) website. It is hands down the most advanced aviation and weather flight planning tool out there. There are two primary places to get METARs and TAFs: NOAA’s aviation weather site or an aviation app on your smart device. By the end, even the most experienced pilots will learn something new.
#Thunder in the vicinity meaning how to#
This article will take a deep dive into how to read every aspect of the METAR. They typically leave off the remarks (RMK) section leaving pilots to wonder what the rest of the METAR means. I hope there is no thunder in your vicinity, metaphorical or otherwise.How do you read METARs when there is so much extraneous information? Aviation Routine Weather Reports (METARs) are a must for every flight, but for something so vital they are difficult to read.Įven programs like Foreflight don’t decode all of the METAR. I have discovered the keyhole into my novel's new opening, and the key as well, and as soon as I post this, I shall give it a twist and feel the tumblers of the lock give way. Today I am ready to start putting words to paper again. They must serve some other purpose.īut all is not so grim. I refuse to believe that there is simply a vast array of empty buildings ready to be conscripted during times of crises. I don't know what these places are used for the rest of the time. These are the most common groups who pay with their lives for our relative position to the sun this time of year. Usually during a heat wave, the city has to open cooling centers throughout the city to try and minimize the number of elderly or homeless casualties. There are only so many layers of clothing to remove. Aside from hiding beneath an air conditioner, there is really nothing a person can do about heat. There are things a person can do to work against cold, and the sleeping is better. Winter may very well be better than summer. Not too many years ago, we went from early November to early April without ever seeing the temperature reach 50°. Winter, of course, grows bitterly cold or brings blizzards which blot out the lines between things. Autumn may be the best season here, cool and crisp, but sometimes we flit directly from summer to winter without blinking, the leaaves yanked from the trees with the weight of snowfalls and frost. Spring here comes late and flickers almost immediately into summer, like a flourescent bulb: off, on, off, on, off, on, on.

Summer's lazy warmth always gives way before long to these oppressive, miserable stretches from which there is no genuine relief. Chicago has long been a city of extreme weather. We have had nothing but consistent heat and moisture for days and days and days. I expect hitting refresh will result in a short passage from "The Tempest." Perhaps Yahoo! has hired a poet to interpret the weather. Instead of "cloudy" or "thunderstorms" it tells me that the current condition is "thunder in the vicinity." It is trouble enough that the current temperature is nearly 90° at one in the morning without such vague, ominous weather reports.
