How to read a TAF: the weather forecast for an airport
A METAR tells you the weather at an airport now. A TAF is the forecast for the same airport for the next 24 or 30 hours. It uses the same codes, so if you can already read a METAR, only the time groups are new.
An example
TAF UKBB 101100Z 1012/1112 27010KT 9999 SCT030 TEMPO 1014/1018 4000 SHRA BKN012CB BECMG 1020/1022 VRB03KT FM110200 18005KT 3000 BR PROB30 1103/1106 0800 FG
- TAF UKBB 101100Z: a forecast for Kyiv Boryspil, issued on day 10 at 11:00 UTC;
- 1012/1112: valid from 12:00 UTC on the 10th to 12:00 UTC on the 11th. The first two digits are the day, the last two the hour;
- 27010KT 9999 SCT030: the main forecast: wind 270° at 10 knots, visibility 10 km or more, scattered cloud at 3000 feet;
- TEMPO 1014/1018 4000 SHRA BKN012CB: between 14:00 and 18:00, at times and for less than an hour each, visibility 4000 m in rain showers with cumulonimbus (CB) cloud at 1200 feet;
- BECMG 1020/1022 VRB03KT: between 20:00 and 22:00 the wind gradually becomes variable at 3 knots and stays that way;
- FM110200 18005KT 3000 BR: from 02:00 UTC on the 11th the weather changes quickly: wind 180° at 5 knots, visibility 3000 m, mist;
- PROB30 1103/1106 0800 FG: a 30% chance of fog with 800 m visibility between 03:00 and 06:00.
How to use it
Find your arrival time in UTC and see which groups cover it. The main forecast and the BECMG and FM groups describe weather that lasts. TEMPO and PROB describe what may happen for a short while, and that is what most often spoils an approach.
Three practical tips:
- plan for the worse case: if a TEMPO at your time gives low cloud, take more fuel and an alternate with a better forecast;
- CB in a forecast means thunderstorm cloud: expect strong gusts and detours;
- not every airport has a TAF: small ones only publish METARs.
Our briefing shows the TAF in the card of every airport in your plan, and the METAR / TAF decoder lays out any forecast line by line.
About Ukraine: while the airspace is closed, Ukrainian airports publish neither METARs nor TAFs. Their pages show a weather model forecast instead.