Definition
The terminal aerodrome forecast (TAF) for the airport at which the flight is planned to land, covering expected weather conditions such as wind, visibility, ceiling, and significant weather phenomena over the forecast period that includes the planned arrival time.
Plain English
The official weather forecast for the airport you're flying to, telling you what the weather is expected to be when you get there.
Context Anchor
You encounter this during a standard weather briefing before a flight, especially when checking whether the landing airport is expected to be suitable when you arrive.
Derivation
Destination comes from a Latin root meaning “to set or determine,” which fits the idea of the airport you have set as the end point of the flight. Forecast means “to predict beforehand,” so a destination forecast is a prediction made before the flight about conditions at the planned end point.
Why Pilots Care
It determines whether landing conditions will be acceptable or whether an alternate airport must be selected before departure.
Intuition Check
Do not read “destination forecast” as the weather along the whole trip. It means the expected weather at the planned landing airport, especially near the time you expect to arrive.
Example Sentence 1
The destination forecast called for a 2,000-foot ceiling and five miles visibility around our planned arrival time, so we filed IFR.
Example Sentence 2
When the destination forecast called for low ceilings after sunset, the pilot filed an alternate airport.