Free tool

METAR decoder

Paste a METAR and see every group explained next to the characters it came from, with the flight category.

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Paste a report above, or try one of the examples. For the wind against each runway, use the crosswind calculator.

How METAR groups work

A fixed sequence of groups: A METAR is a weather observation from an airport, usually issued once an hour. The groups always come in the same order: station, time, wind, visibility, weather, clouds, temperature and dewpoint, altimeter. Learn the order and you can read any METAR without help.
Wind: Direction in degrees, speed in knots, then KT. Gusts show up as G and the gust speed. If the wind is swinging, a second group gives the range (like 180V260). VRB means it has no steady direction.
Visibility and weather: US reports give visibility in statute miles (10SM, 1/2SM). Most of the world uses meters. Weather uses short codes: RA for rain, SN for snow, FG for fog, TS for thunderstorm. A minus means light, a plus means heavy. So +TSRA is a heavy thunderstorm with rain.
Clouds and the ceiling: Each cloud layer says how much of the sky it covers (FEW, SCT, BKN, OVC) and how high it is in hundreds of feet above the ground. The ceiling is the lowest broken or overcast layer. Scattered layers below it do not count, even if they are low.
Temperature, dewpoint, and altimeter: Temperature and dewpoint are whole degrees Celsius, separated by a slash. An M in front means below zero: M04 is minus 4. The altimeter setting comes last. A means inches of mercury (US), Q means hectopascals (most of the world).
Flight category: The METAR itself does not say VFR or IFR. The category comes from FAA thresholds on the ceiling and visibility: VFR needs at least 3,000 ft and 5 miles, MVFR at least 1,000 ft and 3 miles, IFR at least 500 ft and 1 mile, and anything below that is LIFR.
Remarks: Everything after RMK is free-form and varies by country: station type, sea level pressure, hourly precipitation, peak wind, and more. The remark section is shown as it arrived. Decoding only the known groups would silently drop the rest.

Not a substitute for an official pre-flight weather briefing.

Ceiling \ Visibility	< 1 SM	1–3 SM	3–5 SM	5+ SM
3,000+ ft	LIFR	IFR	MVFR	VFR
1,000–3,000 ft	LIFR	IFR	MVFR	MVFR
500–1,000 ft	LIFR	IFR	IFR	IFR
Below 500 ft	LIFR	LIFR	LIFR	LIFR