The only time it extends beyond 5NM is for certain conditions like fog, showers or thunderstorms. It’s vital you understand the TAF is a “point” forecast which means it only extends 5 NM from the station identifier. Like the METARs, the TAF will begin with the airport identifier. I have never seen an amended or corrected TAF, but you might, so it’s worth mentioning. So, a TAF issued at 0430Z instead of 0540Z is an indication it’s an amended TAF. The standard issue times are 00Z, 06Z, 12Z and 18Z. Usually, TAFs are issued 20 to 40 minutes prior to the standard issue time. You may not know the TAF is amended except by the issued time. These will always supersede the previously issued TAF. (I’m a bit of a geek)ĭepending on how quickly the weather changes, you will see three types of reports: I got to meet someone who produced the TAFs!! Pilots make serious go/no-go decision on TAFs, so it was pretty cool to meet one of the writers in person. 122 different weather forecast offices in the US produce TAFs. I visited one of those offices in Portland, and I got to meet a REAL weather forecaster! When he told me he wrote TAFs, I was a little star struck. TAFs are produced by actual weather experts. TAFs are an educated guess, METARs aren’t. Here are the five different parts of the TAF I will cover:īefore we get started, though, you need to understand TAFs are different from METARs in that they are a forecast. Once you understand the format, TAFs are much easier to decode. Like the other articles I have written on decoding NOTAMs and METARs, I will break down the overall structure of the TAF. Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts (TAFs) follow a slightly different format than METARs, and therefore, they deserve their own article.
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