Weather reports are parts of the weather topic on the FAA Part 107 exam. In this
study guide tutorial, I will go over material about weather that you need to know for your
test, as well as walk you through 10 questions with detailed explanations.
Most of the material and questions in this video are coming from the study guide I used
to prepare for the FAA part 107 exam, which I successfully passed with a 90% score in 2022.
Check out the video on how I prepared for the exam in the link above and in
the description. Take a look at the study guide I used in the description as well.
The questions will use the airman knowledge testing supplement. I included links in the
description, if you do not have the supplement. It is very important to
understand weather reports referenced in the airman knowledge testing supplement.
Most of the questions on weather reports and forecasts on your exam will come from it.
Remote pilots can get weather briefings prior to their flights by visiting 1800wxbrief.com. The
second source of weather reports is NWS Aviation Weather Center (AWC) at aviationweather.gov. Both
sources offer two typical types of weather reports: aviation routine weather report or
METAR and terminal aerodrome forecasts, or TAF. Both METAR and TAF use the international weather
reporting code system in a standardized format. METAR is an observation of the current weather
at the surface and will typically originate from airports or permanent weather observation
stations. TAF, on the other hand, is a weather forecast report prepared for the five statute
miles radius around a specific airport, typically a large one. TAFs are valid for
24 or 30 hours and are updated four times a day at 0000Z, 0600Z, 1200Z and 1800Z time.
Note, that time in TAF and METAR reports is given in coordinated universal time or UTC. Letter Z
at the end denotes the UTC time or zulu time. When requesting a weather briefing, you can get
the following: a standard briefing for a complete set of weather conditions, an abbreviated briefing
when you need only a few specific items, and an outlook when your planned flight departure is more
than six hours from the report issuance time. There are two main types of weather observing
systems in the United States: Automated Surface Observing System, or ASOS,
and Automated Weather Observing System, or AWOS. ASOS is the main weather reporting system that
is part of the nationwide network of weather reporting stations. ASOS uses sophisticated
sensors to generate minute-by-minute weather data that can be transmitted to pilots. METAR reports
are generated using predominantly ASOS data. Unlike AWOS, ASOS gathers much more information
that is later used in weather forecasts. AWOS is similar to ASOS and it collects
and reports data primarily about specific airport weather conditions automatically. AWOS systems can
be operated by private aviation service providers, such as airports, or government agencies, such as
the FAA. Thus, AWOS is not necessarily part of the nationwide network of weather reporting stations.
The most important thing for your FAA part 107 exam is to be able to read abbreviations
and symbols in textual weather reports. As mentioned before, TAF and METAR reports use
the same abbreviations and format. If you can read one, you will understand the other
one too. My study strategy that worked was not to memorize all symbols and abbreviations. Instead,
I focused on understanding weather report excerpts from the airman knowledge testing supplement,
mainly figure 12 and figure 15 that looks like this from the 2022 edition.
So, let’s go over one METAR and one TAF in more detail. I will also provide more details and
pointers on where to get additional material, if you want to know more.
Consider this METAR report. The first symbol is the type of report.
In this case, it is METAR, which is the current surface weather observation. Besides METAR,
you can also see SPECI, which stands for special METAR issued in case of rapid changes in weather.
Next, is the station identifier. The unique station id is typically a three
letter combination preceded by the letter K in 48 contiguous states. So, KLAX means a weather
station at the Los Angeles international airport. Next are the date and time of the report. The
first two digits mean the date, while the last four digits are the time of the report given in
coordinated universal time or zulu time. This is not local time. So we have this report on
the 20th day of the month at 18:53 zulu time. Next is the modifier, which can be omitted.
This can be AUTO or COR, among others. AUTO stands for report from the automated source,
while COR stands for the corrected report. The next part is wind information. The first three
digits denote the direction of wind in relation to true north. If the wind direction changes,
you will see VRB instead of three digits, which denotes variable direction. So we have wind at 240
degrees to true north. The next two digits denote wind speed reported in knots. If the wind speed is
greater than 99 knots, you will see three digits. If the wind is gusting, you will see letter G. The
next two or three digits denote gust peak speed. So what we have here is wind at 240 degrees to
true north, speed at 20 knots gusting to 30 knots. Next is visibility reported in statute miles as
denoted by the letters SM. The visibility is reported in both miles and fraction of miles.
In this case, the visibility is three quarters of a statute mile.
Also, METAR may contain runway visual range or RVR at a particular airport. This shows
the expected distance a pilot can see down the runway from the aircraft. RVR is shown
with the letter R followed by the runway identifier, then slant symbol and then the
visual range in feet. In our case, we have a visual range of 1500 feet on runway 20 left.
Next is weather. Here is a table that shows all possible weather abbreviations. This table comes
from the Remote Pilot – Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Study Guide issued by the FAA. I included
the link to this document in the description. While you can memorize all the descriptors in
this table, this is not what I did. Instead, I made sure I remembered all abbreviations that
appeared at the airman knowledge testing supplement, mainly in figures 12 and 15,
and could at least vaguely remember the rest of them. Looking at the table, we see that +TSRA
BR stands for heavy thunderstorms with rain and mist. Note, if there is no plus qualifier, it
means that the intensity of precipitations would be moderate per the first column of this table.
The next part is sky condition. It is reported in the sequence of amount,
height and type of cloud cover in terms of vertical visibility. The heights of cloud
bases are shown in three-digit number in hundreds of feet above ground level. You could also see
types of clouds reported, such as TCU denoting towering cumulus or CB denoting cumulonimbus.
Here is the table that shows abbreviations for sky conditions. The sky coverage is always
reported in eights of the sky from horizon to horizon. What we have in our case is this:
the ceiling is broken at 700 feet, overcast at 1,400 feet with cumulonimbus clouds.
The next part is temperature and dew point given in degrees Celsius (C). Negative
temperatures are preceded by the letter M. In our case, we have ambient temperature of
20 degrees and dew point of 19 degrees Celsius. The next part is altimeter setting. It is used
by aircraft pilots to adjust their altimeter to determine the height of an aircraft. It
is always preceded by the letter A and is given in inches of mercury or Hg.
Also, in the remarks section you can see rising or falling pressure denoted by PRESRR or PRESFR
respectively. In our case, we have barometric pressure at 29.75 inches of mercury and falling
rapidly denoted by PRESFR in the remarks section. Sometimes, you will see additional remarks such as
this. Typically, it denotes the time when certain weather phenomenon began. In this case, it means a
thunderstorm began at 30 minutes past the hour and rain began at 30 minutes past the hour, or 1830Z.
As for the TAF reports, they are very similar except that these reports provide
multiple valid period dates and times, along with probabilities for weather
forecast conditions. Let’s pick one TAF report from the airman knowledge testing supplement
from figure 15 and go over it in details. First is the type of report, which is TAF. It
could also be TAF AMD, meaning an amended report. Next is KOKC, which is a station identifier. Then,
there is the date and time of a TAF forecast report in UTC or zulu time. In this case,
on the fifth day of the month at 1130 zulu time. Then comes the forecast valid period dates and
times in zulu time for the entire report. The first two digits are the starting date and the
next two digits are the starting hour. After the slant symbol, there is an ending date and hour.
If the forecast period begins at midnight, it is annotated by 00. If the end period is at midnight,
it is annotated by the number 24. In our case, we have a valid period from 1200 o’clock zulu time on
the fifth of the month to 18:00 o’clock zulu time on the sixth of the month. Next is wind direction
at 140 degrees true north with a speed of 8 knots. The forecast visibility is 5 statute miles with
mist, since BR stands for mist if you look up the table I referenced before. Next is forecast
sky condition. In our case, we have broken cloud cover at 3,000 feet above ground level.
The next period block starts with abbreviation TEMPO, which means a temporary fluctuation in
weather expected to last less than an hour. So this would read: temporary on the fifth of the
month from 13:00 to 16:00 zulu time, visibility of one and a half statute mile with mist.
The next time block starts with the letters FM, which stands for “from” and denotes a rapid
and significant weather change, typically within an hour. So this block would read:
from 1600 zulu time of fifth day of the month, wind at 180 degrees at 10 knots. Next,
you have the letter P in front of the visibility value, which indicates greater than the highest
reportable value. So this would read visibility greater than 6 statute miles with clear sky.
The next block starts with the abbreviation BECMG, which denotes “becoming”. In plain language,
it means when the weather is turning into or changing to something else. So this would read:
becoming on the fifth day of the month from 22:00 to 24:00 zulu time wind at 200
degrees at 13 knots, gusting to 20 knots. Visibility is 4 statute miles. Showers and
rain. Overcast sky with clouds at 2000 feet. The next valid period starts with PROB40,
which stands for probability of precipitations. So this time block would read: between midnight
to 0600 o’clock zulu time on the sixth day of the month, there is a 40 percent probability
that the visibility is 2 statute miles with thunderstorms and rain, overcast sky with
cloud base at 800 feet with cumulonimbus clouds. The last period block is this one. It would read:
becoming from 06:00 to 08:00 o’clock zulu time on the sixth day of the month with wind at 210
degrees at 15 knots, with visibility greater than 6 statute miles, clouds at 4000 feet scattered.
End of report signified by the equal sign. One last thing to mention is that weather briefing
service providers may also issue a convective SIGMET report, which stands for significant
meteorological information report. This report implies severe turbulence, significant icing and
low-level wind shear. The typical circumstances under which convective SIGMET is issued are:
winds with velocity greater than or equal to 50 knots or hail at the surface with the diameter
greater than or equal to 3/4 inch or tornadoes, embedded thunderstorms, lines of thunderstorms.
So let’s take a look at 10 questions to test your knowledge.
The first question asks you about the type of briefing a pilot should get for a complete weather
overview for the planned flight. Choice A is not correct because an outlook briefing contains the
weather forecast. Choice B is incorrect too, because the abbreviated briefing by definition
contains only limited weather information. So, the answer is C, standard briefing, since it
would contain the complete weather overview. The second question asks you to identify the
correct statement about ASOS/AWOS weather reporting systems. Choice A is incorrect,
because AWOS stations can be maintained by private parties, such as airports, and may not necessarily
be part of a nationwide network of weather reporting stations. Choice C is incorrect too,
because both AWOS and ASOS are capable of reporting density altitude regardless of the
height above ground level. So this makes choice B the answer, because ASOS stations do indeed
perform weather observations that are necessary to generate METAR reports in the United States.
The third question asks you to identify wind direction and velocity at KJFK station. Before
even looking at the information in figure 12, we can tell that choice B is wrong,
since wind direction is given in relation to true north. Choice C is incorrect too,
because it tries to confuse you into believing that the velocity number precedes the direction
number in the report. This makes choice A the answer, since the wind direction
always comes first, which is 180 degrees to true north and then velocity at 4 knots.
The fourth question wants you to identify current conditions at a given location.
Looking at the excerpt from the METAR report, we can see that the sky is indeed overcast with the
ceiling at 700 feet because the distance is shown in hundreds of feet in METAR reports.
This immediately excludes choice B. We can also see that the visibility is one and a
half statute miles with rain. This excludes choice C and makes choice A the answer.
The fifth question wants you to know what -RASN stands for. You do not have to look at the TAF
report to answer this question. Remember, minus means light intensity; RA stands for rain, while
SN denotes snow. This makes choice A the answer. The sixth question asks you to find the forecast
visibility in the TAF report between 10 and 12 zulu time. First, find this period in the report.
It would be here. So this entire valid period block would be this. And here is the visibility,
which is 3 statute miles. This makes choice B the answer to this question.
The seventh question wants you to find the forecast wind from 1600 o’clock zulu time
until the end of the forecast. To find this valid period, we have to look at the very end
of the forecast report. This valid period block starts and ends here. And here is the relevant
information about wind direction and velocity. The abbreviation VRB stands for variable direction,
while the speed would be 6 knots. This would make choice C the answer.
The eighth question wants you to identify the earliest time on the twelfth day of the month
in the TAF report, when the visibility will be below 3 statute miles. To answer this question,
begin scanning each valid period block one by one in sequential order focusing on visibility
numbers. In the first time block, we see the visibility of 5 statute miles. The next time
block starts at 2000 o’clock zulu time and this is the first time visibility goes below 3 statute
miles. It will actually be at 1 statute mile. This makes choice C the answer to this question.
The ninth question wants you to identify circumstances under which convective SIGMET
reports are issued. If you recall this slide, there are three major circumstances
that result in SIGMET. We can see that wind velocity must be above 50 knots,
so this rules out choice C. Choice B is incorrect too, because reduced visibility
does not give rise to the issuance of SIGMET. This leaves choice A as the answer to this question,
because squall lines of thunderstorm are one of the reasons for SIGMET.
The tenth question asks you to give the meaning of RAB35 in the remarks section. This question
refers to this part of the METAR report in the remarks section. As we previously saw,
RA stands for rain. Usually, remarks in METAR reports talk about precipitations and time when
they began. In this case, letter B stands for began, while 35 means that the rain began 35
minutes past the hour when this METAR report was issued. Because the report was issued at 1856Z,
this means that the rain began at 1835Z. This makes choice B the answer to this question.
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