Weather Information Interpretation

by Glen Moyer

A wide variety of abbreviations are used on aviation weather reports and forecasts in order to save time and space on telecommunications cirtcuits, computer equipment, and on charts. The contractions will normally be used for any drivative of the root word. However, with the adaoption of the ICAO language, some abreviations will no longer rely on their English language roots. Likewise, If confusion would result, variations might be shown by adding the following letters to the contraction of the root word.

able		BL
al		L
ally, erly,ly	LY
ary, ery, ory	RY
ance, ence	NC
der		DR
ed, ied		D
ening		NG
er,ier, or	R
ern		RN
ically		CLY
ive		V
iest,est	ST
iness, ness	NS
ing		G
ity		TY
ment		MT
ous		US
a,es,ies	S
tion, ation	N
ward		WD

Of course, it is important to remember that the same abbreviation may have a completely different meaning when used as a weather descriptor, rather than in a weather report, i.e. BL may be the abbreviation for "able" but as a weather descriptor it means "blowing."

A sampling of the new abbreviations and weather descriptors follows. For complete lists, contact your local FAA office and ask for their publication, New Aviation Weather Formats,METAR/TAF, June 1995.

Abreviations

AMD		amended forecast
BECMG		becoming
BKN		broken
CLR		clear
COR		correction to the observation
FEW		1 or 2 octas (cloud coverage)
FM		from 
LDG		landing
M		in temperature field means "minus" or below zero
NO		not available
NSW		no significant weather
OVC		overcast
PROB40		probability 40 percent
R 		runway (used in RVR measurement)
RMK		remarks
RY/RWY		runway
SCT		scattered
SKC		sky clear
SLP		sea level pressure
TEMPO		temporary changes expected
TKOF		takeoff
V		varies
VC		vicinity
VRB		variable wind direction when speed is 6 knots or less
VV		vertical visibility
WS		wind shear
Descriptors
BC		patches
BL		blowing
DR		low drifting
FZ		supercooled/freezing
MI		shallow
PR		partial
SH		showers
TS		thunderstorm

Weather Phenomena
BR		mist
DS		dust storm
DU		widespread dust
DZ		drizzle
FC		funnel cloud
+FC		tornado/water spout
FG		fog
FU		smoke
GR		hail
GS		small hail/snow pellets
HZ		haze
IC		ice crystals
PE		ice pellets
PO		dust/sand whirls
PY		spray
RA		rain
SA		sand
SG		snow grains
SN		snow
SQ		squall
SS		sandstorm
UP		unknown precipitation
VA		volcanic ash

Cloud Types
CB		cumulonimbus
TCU		towering cumulus

 
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