I just started using FSMeteo and am impressed by the wealth of info it downloads and prints out. I can make out some of the info but the rest I can't. This is what was printed out: KAVP 281754Z 05009KT 10SM CLR 17/M01 A3035 RMK AO2 SLP271 T01671006 10167 200676 HOURS WINDS ALOFT FORECASTSAVP 0809 0726+05 0626+00 0428-05 0442-16 0351-30 045445 036055 025863E(There is a raised exponent of 3 before that E)TAFKAVP 281702Z 281712 07007KT P6SM SKC FM0600 08005KT P63M BKN025 There is a decoded section that makes part of it understandable - I can make out the zulu time and KT is probably winds, but the rest I don't get. Could someone please make sense of this for me? Thanks.

Ok, real quick. The info for KAVP is a METAR, which stands for Aviation Routine Weather Report. Actually before KAVP, the word METAR should appear. You can read it as follows,281754Z - 28th day of the month @ 1754Z05009KT - winds are from 050 @ 9 knots (reference to true north)10SM - visibility - I think this is as high as it goes. Basically, it means 10sm or greater visibility.CLR - skies clear17/M01 - I think dewpoint and temperature or the other way around, I have a hard time remembering. This may be 17 degrees C and a dewpoint of -01. M is minus.A3035 - altimeter readingRMK - remarks sectionA02 - station has a precipitation discriminatorSLP271 - it means something about sea level pressureThe rest, I would have to look up.TAF - similar in descriptors as a METAR but valid for different time period. Terminal Area ForecastKAVP 281702Z 281712 07007KT P6SM SKCFM0600 08005KT P63M BKN025281702 281712 - time period the observation was made, I think. 07007kt - winds again, from 070 at 07 knotsP6SM - visiblity is 6 statute miles, can't remember P?SKC - skies clearFM0600 - starting from 0600 (time) winds will be out of 080 at 05 ktP63M - beats meBKN025 - clouds are broken at 2500 feetCheck out the FAA web site. There is a lot of info about weather there or better yet look at NOAA. You can read about SIGMETS and Convective SIGMETS are just fill your brain with all sorts of stuff.

Arthur did a good job decoding a METAR and a TAF for you.In the METAR it is first the temperature and then the dewpoint. Thence 17/M01 is temp 17C and dewpoint -01 (M indicates minus temps)SLP271 means a pressure at sea level of 1027.1 Hpa (just add 10 in front of the SLP figure)Now for the TAF, P63M looks like a typo to me, we often get P6SM over here in our TAFs, essentially it means a visibily greater than 6 statute miles ( Plus 6 Statute Miles)If you want to try more decoding here's a good website http://www.flightplanning.navcanada.ca

http://weather.cod.edu/notes/metar.htmlHope this helps,JimActiveSky Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

The P63M is wrong and must have been corrupted during transmission, which explains why the writer says it displays as an exponent (superscript).As for the CLR in the METAR, that does indicate clear skies, but not in the literal sense. It means clear up to 10,000 feet. There may be clouds higher than 10,000 feet present with the METAR showing CLR. This is a limitation of AWOS and ASOS equipment. At stations that have observers, you will see cloud layers reported above 10,000 feet.Unfortunately, this limition in cloud heights is reflected in some FS weather programs that rely only on what the METAR reports. Other programs, such as Active Sky, take into consideration the wet and dry adiabatic lapse rates in aloft layers for predicting upper cloud layers and cloud thickness that are not reported in METARs. This technique produces a much better depiction of the actual weather.Bruce

Thanks for all the help and info. guys!:-) Regards, Tom