Definition
A visual presentation of current surface weather observations on a moving map, where each reporting station is shown as a colored symbol or flag indicating flight category (VFR, MVFR, IFR, or LIFR) along with associated wind, visibility, ceiling, and other observed conditions. The underlying data comes from standard METAR reports but is rendered graphically rather than as coded text.
Plain English
It is a map view of current weather at airports. Instead of reading a line of coded weather text for each station, you see colored dots or symbols on the map that show at a glance whether conditions are good, marginal, or poor for flying.
Context Anchor
Seen on electronic flight displays and multi-function displays that show datalink weather information in the cockpit.
Derivation
"Graphical" comes from the Greek graphikos, meaning "drawn" or "written." METAR is the international code name for a routine aviation surface weather report. Together the phrase simply means METAR information shown as a picture instead of as text.
Why Pilots Care
Enables rapid visual assessment of airport weather across a region, supporting faster go/no-go decisions and route adjustments.
Analogy
It is like seeing traffic conditions as colors on a map instead of reading a list of street-by-street reports.
Intuition Check
Do not assume graphical METAR data is a live picture of the weather. It is reported airport weather converted into map symbols, and it may be several minutes old.
Example Sentence 1
Before takeoff, the pilot pulled up graphical METAR data on the MFD and saw a line of red IFR stations stretching across the planned route.
Example Sentence 2
Graphical METAR data uses colored symbols to show which nearby airports are reporting VFR or IFR weather.