Plain English Meaning

These are official reports describing weather that has actually been observed — at airports, by pilots in the air, or by weather radar. They are written in a standard short-form code so any pilot can read them the same way and get a quick, accurate picture of what the weather is doing right now.

Full Definition

Standardized observations of current weather conditions used by pilots for flight planning and in-flight decision making. The primary aviation weather reports include METARs (routine surface observations at airports), PIREPs (reports from pilots already in flight), and Radar Weather Reports (which show patterns and ). Each follows a fixed format and coded structure so the information can be read quickly and consistently by any pilot or .