Raw METARs and TAFs are very difficult to read. What do all of those jumbled letters and numbers mean?
A good way to learn the METAR and TAF code is to retrieve selected reports from the “Latest METAR Text” option on the right side of the ADDS METARs or TAFs page. By selecting the “Translated” version instead of the “Raw Format” the output will be translated to plain English, with the raw code included at the top of the output. By viewing the translated and raw code together, you may be able to learn to decipher a raw report. If using this data on an intermittent basis, then one might also benefit from using the Java METAR, TAF, or Flight Path tools, with which you can plot the METAR and TAF graphics, then pass the mouse cursor over individual stations to display the raw coded text. The format of METAR and TAF reports is decided by international agreement (ICAO). Any changes to the code impacts users worldwide. Countless software decoders would have to be rewritten. Recently, the U.S. converted from SAO surface data format to METAR to become consistent with the rest of the world. It’s d
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