Definition
A trained specialist, typically employed by Flight Service, who provides pilots with official preflight and in-flight weather information, including current conditions, forecasts, hazards, NOTAMs, and other data relevant to a planned flight.
Plain English
A person whose job is to give pilots a verbal rundown of the weather and other flight-related information before or during a flight.
Context Anchor
Used during preflight planning, especially before deciding whether to fly, what route to take, or when to depart.
Derivation
From 'brief' meaning a short, focused summary of essential information. A weather briefer is the person who delivers that summary.
Why Pilots Care
Accurate briefings help identify hazards such as turbulence, icing, or low ceilings that directly affect go/no-go decisions and in-flight safety.
Intuition Check
Do not think of a weather briefer as a general TV-style forecaster. In aviation, a weather briefer gives pilot-focused information for a specific planned flight.
Example Sentence 1
Before departing on the cross-country, the student called Flight Service and received a standard briefing from a weather briefer.
Example Sentence 2
After the weather briefer described building thunderstorms along the planned path, the pilot elected to delay departure until conditions improved.