METAR Decoder: Read Any METAR in Plain English

Q: Are METAR winds true or magnetic?

True. Wind direction in a written METAR or TAF is in degrees true. Winds broadcast on ATIS, AWOS or ASOS and given by the tower are magnetic, which is what runway numbers use. Where variation is large, correct a METAR wind before you compare it with a runway.

Q: Why is there no ceiling when the METAR shows FEW or SCT clouds?

A ceiling is the lowest layer reported as broken (BKN) or overcast (OVC), or a vertical visibility (VV) into an obscured sky. Few and scattered layers cover less than half the sky, so they never make a ceiling, however low they are.

METAR or SPECI

US, Canadian and ICAO formats. Decoded in your browser; nothing you paste leaves this page.

Try a sample:

Paste a METAR to read it.

Flight category –

Wind – degrees true

Visibility – statute miles

Ceiling – ft above the ground

Temp / dew point – °C

Altimeter –

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A METAR is an airport's weather observation in code: station, time, wind, visibility, weather, clouds, temperature and dew point, altimeter, then remarks. KBFI 261753Z 31015G24KT 10SM FEW045 22/09 A3005 is Boeing Field on the 26th at 17:53 UTC: wind 310° true at 15 knots gusting 24, visibility 10 miles or more, a few clouds at 4,500 ft, 22 °C with a 9 °C dew point, altimeter 30.05. It's an observation, not a forecast; the TAF tells you what's coming.

Reading a METAR, group by group

The groups always come in the same order, and a group that has nothing to report is left out rather than written as zero.

Group	Example	What it means
Station	KBFI	Four-letter ICAO identifier. K is the contiguous US, C is Canada, PA is Alaska.
Time	261753Z	Day of the month, then the time in UTC: the 26th at 17:53 UTC.
Wind	31015G24KT	From 310° true at 15 knots, gusting 24. VRB04KT is variable at 4; 00000KT is calm; 280V350 after the wind means the direction swings between the two.
Visibility	1 1/2SM	Statute miles, fractions included. M1/4SM is less than a quarter mile; 10SM is 10 or more.
Weather	-SHRA	Light rain showers. A minus is light, no sign is moderate, a plus is heavy; VC means 5 to 10 miles from the station.
Clouds	BKN014	Cover and base in hundreds of feet above the ground: few, scattered, broken, overcast. VV002 is a sky obscured with 200 ft of vertical visibility.
Temperature	M05/M08	Temperature and dew point in °C; M is minus. A spread of 2 °C or less is fog and low-cloud territory.
Altimeter	A2987	29.87 inHg. ICAO reports give Q1012 in hectopascals instead.
Remarks	RMK AO2 SLP127	What didn't fit above: the station type, sea-level pressure, exact temperatures, peak wind, when precipitation began.

Ceiling and flight category

The ceiling is the lowest broken or overcast layer, or the vertical visibility when the sky is obscured. Few and scattered layers never count, however low they sit. The category is set by the worse of ceiling and visibility:

Category	Ceiling	Visibility
VFR	above 3,000 ft	and more than 5 SM
MVFR (marginal VFR)	1,000 to 3,000 ft	or 3 to 5 SM
IFR	500 to 999 ft	or 1 to under 3 SM
LIFR (low IFR)	below 500 ft	or under 1 SM

These are the Aviation Weather Center's chart categories. They describe the weather; they don't make a flight legal or sensible. An MVFR field with 2,000 overcast and 6 miles is legal VFR in most airspace and a poor place for a low-time pilot to go looking for the airport. Compare the numbers with your own personal minimums.

Remarks worth reading

AO1 or AO2: an automated station. AO2 has a precipitation discriminator and can tell rain from snow; AO1 can't.
SLP176: sea-level pressure 1017.6 hPa. Put a 10 in front below 500, a 9 above it.
T02220094: temperature 22.2 °C and dew point 9.4 °C. A 1 in place of the 0 means minus.
PK WND 33032/1731: peak wind 330° at 32 knots, at 17:31 UTC. Worth a look when the main group says 18 knots.
RAB33, TSB25: rain began at 33 past the hour, thunder at 25. E is ended.
PRESRR, PRESFR: pressure rising or falling rapidly, often a front or a storm nearby.
$: the station needs maintenance. Treat the numbers with suspicion.

Canadian METARs add the cloud types and how much of the sky each covers, in eighths: SC1AC5 is stratocumulus 1/8 and altocumulus 5/8. Reports outside North America use metres for visibility (9999 is 10 km or more), hectopascals for the altimeter, and CAVOK when visibility is 10 km or more with no cloud below 5,000 ft and no significant weather.

Common Questions

Are METAR winds true or magnetic?

True. The wind in a written METAR or TAF is in degrees true. Winds on ATIS, AWOS or ASOS and from the tower are magnetic, like the runway numbers. Where variation is large, correct a METAR wind before you run it through the crosswind calculator.

What does 10SM mean in a METAR?

Visibility of 10 statute miles or more. US reports stop at 10 SM, so 10SM means at least 10. Canadian observers report higher values such as 15SM, and ICAO reports use metres, where 9999 means 10 km or more.

Why is there no ceiling when the METAR shows FEW or SCT?

A ceiling is the lowest broken (BKN) or overcast (OVC) layer, or a vertical visibility (VV) into an obscured sky. Few and scattered layers cover less than half the sky, so they never make a ceiling. A scattered layer at 800 ft can still put a cloud exactly where you want to be on final.

Related tools and guides

Crosswind Calculator

Paste the same METAR there and get the components for your runway.

Cloud Base Calculator

What the temperature and dew point spread says about cumulus bases.

How to Read a TAF

The forecast that tells you whether this observation will last.

The METAR is one line of the briefing

FlightDecide reads the METARs and TAFs along your route for your flight window, with the NOTAMs, winds aloft and your aircraft's numbers, and shows where the weather crosses your own minimums.

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Educational tool for flight-planning practice. It is advisory only and not a substitute for an official weather briefing or your own judgment as pilot in command (14 CFR 91.3). The sample reports are illustrations, not current observations. Sources: FAA Aviation Weather Handbook (FAA-H-8083-28); Federal Meteorological Handbook No. 1, Surface Weather Observations and Reports; Aviation Weather Center flight category definitions. Last reviewed: September 26, 2026.