Definition
A weather briefing is an official preflight summary of current and forecast weather conditions along a planned route of flight, including departure, en route, and destination weather, plus any hazards, advisories, and notices that affect the flight. Pilots obtain weather briefings from approved sources such as Flight Service (1-800-WX-BRIEF), the Leidos Flight Service website, or other FAA-approved providers. There are three standard types: a Standard Briefing (full picture for a flight), an Abbreviated Briefing (to update or fill in gaps), and an Outlook Briefing (for flights six or more hours away).
Plain English
A weather briefing is a complete weather check a pilot gets before flying, covering what the weather is doing now and what it is expected to do along the route, so the pilot can decide whether and how to make the flight.
Context Anchor
Pilots use weather briefings during preflight planning and may update them before departure or while en route if conditions are changing.
Derivation
"Briefing" comes from the military sense of a short, focused information session given before a mission. Applied to weather, it means a concise rundown of everything weather-related a pilot needs to know before takeoff.
Why Pilots Care
Allows pilots to identify hazards such as turbulence, icing, or low ceilings and adjust the route or departure time to maintain safety.
Intuition Check
Do not think of weather briefings as casual weather reports. In aviation, weather briefings are organized flight-planning information focused on the specific route, timing, and safety of the flight.
Example Sentence 1
Before departing on the cross-country, the pilot called Flight Service and received a standard weather briefing for the route.
Example Sentence 2
After the weather briefing showed building thunderstorms, she postponed the flight until the next morning.