Seems I have flown in and out of Dunedin (NZDN) a couple of times this week and there does not seem to be any METAR Information provided in MSFS...the same with Simbrief, the METAR shows "NZDN no valid Metar found". Anyone else?

Edited April 13, 20242 yr by TomCYYZ

10 minutes ago, TomCYYZ said:

Seems I have flown in and out of Dunedin (NZDN) a couple of times this week and there does not seem to be any METAR Information provided in MSFS...the same with Simbrief, the METAR shows "NZDN no valid Metar found". Anyone else?

Yes, weather metar data is not available south of NZCH. Not much you can do apart from entering the data manually. Google weather for Momona {NZDN}

2 minutes ago, ZKOKQ said:

Yes, weather metar data is not available south of NZCH. Not much you can do apart from entering the data manually. Google weather for Momona {NZDN}

Thanks for that. I did manually look up the weather for NZDN on this site:

https://metar-taf.com/countries

Just now, ZKOKQ said:

Yes, weather metar data is not available south of NZCH. Not much you can do apart from entering the data manually. Google weather for Momona {NZDN}

 

13 minutes ago, TomCYYZ said:

Seems I have flown in and out of Dunedin (NZDN) a couple of times this week and there does not seem to be any METAR Information provided in MSFS...the same with Simbrief, the METAR shows "NZDN no valid Metar found". Anyone else?

New Zealand only reports METAR data on the international WMO data feed for three airports: Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. There are many other airports in NZ that have METAR observations, but those are only available to aviation entities which are physically located in New Zealand.

Those reports are not available in MSFS or any other non-New Zealand aviation weather site.

This restriction is something which the government of New Zealand put in place many years ago.

8 hours ago, TomCYYZ said:

Seems I have flown in and out of Dunedin (NZDN) a couple of times this week and there does not seem to be any METAR Information provided in MSFS...the same with Simbrief, the METAR shows "NZDN no valid Metar found". Anyone else?

There is no METAR or TAF available in the weather app Windy either. You can however use Windy to gauge wind diirection, strength and it also gives pressure i.e. currently 1019.

Edited April 13, 20242 yr by SierraHotel

1 hour ago, SierraHotel said:

There is no METAR or TAF available in the weather app Windy either. You can however use Windy to gauge wind diirection, strength and it also gives pressure i.e. currently 1019.

This is what I do when there’s no METAR info available. Just did it before flying into Milford Sound.

Vatsim New Zealand has the METAR data.

Here is Dunedin:

https://www.vatnz.net/airspace/airport/NZDN

1 hour ago, Farlis said:

Vatsim New Zealand has the METAR data.

Here is Dunedin:

https://www.vatnz.net/airspace/airport/NZDN

Yes, since Vatsim NZ is in New Zealand, they have access to all in-country METARS. Unfortunately, those METARS cannot be used by Live Weather.

MeteoBlue takes METAR observations only from the WMO (World Meteorological Organization) data feed, which is limited to NZAA, NZWN,  NZCH and NZQN (Queenstown, which is the 4th NZ airport that reports METARS internationally.

Access to meteorological data for other than the four airports listed above is free for non-commercial operators. That would include NZ private pilots, or non-commercial entities in NZ like Vatsim.

Any aviation weather data for commercial operations can only be obtained through subsciption.

The NZ government met office has a page detailing the subscription tiers:

https://www.aviation.govt.nz/airspace-and-aerodromes/meteorology/how-to-access-aviation-weather-information/

Most countries do not monetize meteorological data, but NZ is an exception.

Apparently, even commercial operations (such as airlines) based in NZ itself have to pay for weather data.

Edited April 13, 20242 yr by JRBarrett

12 minutes ago, JRBarrett said:

Yes, since Vatsim NZ is in New Zealand, they have access to all in-country METARS. Unfortunately, those METARS cannot be used by Live Weather.

MeteoBlue takes METAR observations only from the WMO (World Meteorological Organization) data feed, which is limited to NZAA, NZWN,  NZCH and NZQN (Queenstown, which is the 4th NZ airport that reports METARS internationally.

Access to meteorological data for other than the four airports listed above is free for non-commercial operators. That would include NZ private pilots, or non-commercial entities in NZ like Vatsim.

Any aviation weather data for commercial operations can only be obtained through subsciption.

The NZ government met office has a page detailing the subscription tiers:

https://www.aviation.govt.nz/airspace-and-aerodromes/meteorology/how-to-access-aviation-weather-information/

Most countries do not monetize meteorological data, but NZ is an exception.

Apparently, even commercial operations (such as airlines) based in NZ itself have to pay for weather data.

Yep, that's the problem. Even if you have the actual METAR, the live weather in the sim might not match at all.

Ah I was wondering why so many airports in NZ lacked METAR. Thanks

2 hours ago, JRBarrett said:

Yes, since Vatsim NZ is in New Zealand, they have access to all in-country METARS. Unfortunately, those METARS cannot be used by Live Weather.

MeteoBlue takes METAR observations only from the WMO (World Meteorological Organization) data feed, which is limited to NZAA, NZWN,  NZCH and NZQN (Queenstown, which is the 4th NZ airport that reports METARS internationally.

Access to meteorological data for other than the four airports listed above is free for non-commercial operators. That would include NZ private pilots, or non-commercial entities in NZ like Vatsim.

Any aviation weather data for commercial operations can only be obtained through subsciption.

The NZ government met office has a page detailing the subscription tiers:

https://www.aviation.govt.nz/airspace-and-aerodromes/meteorology/how-to-access-aviation-weather-information/

Most countries do not monetize meteorological data, but NZ is an exception.

Apparently, even commercial operations (such as airlines) based in NZ itself have to pay for weather data.

Interesting. Thanks for sharing. I had also wondered why there is no METAR for many NZ airports.

Been using VATSIM METARs today for some Fenix flying, great tip @Farlis!

6 hours ago, SierraHotel said:

There is no METAR or TAF available in the weather app Windy either. You can however use Windy to gauge wind diirection, strength and it also gives pressure i.e. currently 1019.

Correct, better than nothing.

Interesting thread - I flew into Invercargill in the A320 yesterday and noticed the same - no METAR available.  I assumed it was a fault with the Fenix 😄  There's a lesson there, sometimes we're perhaps too quick to blame the 'equipment' and sometimes the 'issue' is just a lack of knowledge (as it was for me in this case).

2 hours ago, JYW said:

I flew into Invercargill in the A320 yesterday and noticed the same - no METAR available.

I was there today in the Fenix! Used the VATSIM METAR.