METARs & TAFs, Plain English
Aviation weather reports look like someone fell asleep on a keyboard — until you learn the handful of codes that actually matter to a drone pilot. Here's how I read a METAR and a TAF before every shoot, and why you need both.
Two Reports, Two Different Jobs
A METAR is a snapshot. It tells you what the weather actually is at an airport right now — observed, not predicted. Airports issue them routinely about once an hour, more often when conditions are changing fast. A TAF (Terminal Aerodrome Forecast) is the other half: a forecast of what's expected at that airport over the next 24 to 30 hours, covering the area right around the field.
The easy way to keep them straight: the METAR is looking out the window; the TAF is a professional telling you what the window will show later. Both matter because they answer different questions. The METAR answers "can I legally launch right now?" The TAF answers "will it still be flyable when I'm actually on site?"
That second question is the one that saves you gas money. If a listing shoot is booked for 3 p.m., the 9 a.m. METAR tells me almost nothing about my shoot window. The TAF does. I've rescheduled plenty of afternoon coastal work off a TAF alone — a clear morning on the Gulf doesn't mean a clear afternoon.
Reading Wind, Visibility, and Clouds
Wind comes first and trips people up first. A group like 09012KT means wind FROM 090 degrees — from the east — at 12 knots. Not blowing toward 090. In the written report, that direction is referenced to true north. Knowing where the wind is coming from tells you which way your drone gets pushed and which battery leg will fight a headwind.
Visibility is reported in statute miles: 10SM means ten statute miles. Part 107 requires at least 3 statute miles, so this number is a straight go/no-go check. Clouds come as a coverage code plus a height in hundreds of feet above ground level: FEW, SCT (scattered), BKN (broken), or OVC (overcast). So SCT035 is scattered clouds at 3,500 ft AGL.
Here's the part that matters legally: BKN and OVC count as a ceiling. FEW and SCT don't. And since Part 107 requires you to stay 500 ft below clouds, a ceiling caps your altitude. BKN008 — a broken layer at 800 ft — means your real working ceiling is 300 ft, not 400. On a low-gray winter morning, that math decides the whole shot list.
Memory hook: Broken and Overcast Block you — BKN and OVC are ceilings. FEW and SCT are just clouds to stay clear of (500 ft below, 2,000 ft horizontal), not a ceiling.
Where to Get Them — and Why You Check Both
The official free source is aviationweather.gov. Type in the identifier of the airport nearest your site and you'll get the current METAR and TAF, and decoded plain-language versions are available if the raw format still looks like alphabet soup. Airports also broadcast their weather over ATIS, AWOS, or ASOS — recorded or automated weather broadcasts you can hear on an aviation radio, which is worth knowing when you're working near a field anyway.
My routine on every job is the same two-step. The night before: read the TAF for my shoot window and decide whether the booking survives. The morning of, and again before launch: pull the METAR and confirm the forecast actually showed up. Forecasts miss. Fog burns off late. Sea-breeze storms fire early. The METAR is your ground truth.
Checking only one is where pilots get burned. A METAR alone can lure you into launching just before conditions fall apart mid-shoot. A TAF alone can have you canceling a job the actual weather would have allowed. Read both, and you're making the call the way a certified pilot is supposed to — on evidence, twice.
KNOWLEDGE CHECK · 1
The METAR at the airport near your shoot reads: 09012KT 10SM BKN018. Which statement is correct?
Key takeaways
- METAR = what the weather IS right now (observed); TAF = what it's forecast to be at that airport over the next 24–30 hours.
- Wind is reported in knots FROM the stated direction; visibility in statute miles; cloud heights in feet AGL.
- BKN and OVC are ceilings — subtract 500 ft from the cloud base to find your real maximum working altitude.
- Get both free at aviationweather.gov (or listen to ATIS/AWOS/ASOS), and check the TAF to plan, the METAR to launch.
Official source