A METAR is a routine aviation weather observation issued by an airport, usually every hour. It packs current wind, visibility, weather, cloud, temperature, and pressure into a compact coded string that this tool translates into readable sentences.

What time zone is the report in?

The day-and-time group ends in Z, meaning it is in UTC, also called Zulu time. The first two digits are the day of the month and the next four are the hour and minute, so 121956Z is the 12th at 19:56 UTC.

What does CAVOK mean?

CAVOK stands for ceiling and visibility OK. It means visibility is 10 kilometres or more, there is no cloud below 5,000 feet or below the highest minimum sector altitude, no cumulonimbus, and no significant weather. The decoder expands it for you.

How are wind gusts shown?

A wind group like 28012G18KT means the wind is from 280 degrees at 12 knots gusting to 18 knots. The decoder breaks out the direction, steady speed, and gust separately so the values are unambiguous.

Why are some groups not decoded?

Anything after the RMK keyword is a remarks section that often contains automated or country-specific coding, which the decoder shows raw. A genuinely unrecognised group before remarks is flagged so you can verify it against an official source.

METAR Decoder — Gera Tools

A METAR squeezes a full airport weather observation into a dense line of codes that is hard to read until you learn the format. This decoder parses a pasted METAR group by group and explains each field in plain English.

How it works

The decoder splits the report into its standard groups and translates each one against the international METAR format:

KSFO 121956Z 28012G18KT 10SM FEW015 SCT200 18/12 A3001
 └station └time(UTC) └wind  └vis  └cloud └cloud └temp └altimeter

Wind groups are read as direction, speed, and optional gust; visibility handles statute miles, metres, and CAVOK; cloud layers give coverage and base in feet; and the altimeter is converted between inches of mercury and hectopascals.

Example and notes

The sample report decodes as: San Francisco, observed on the 12th at 19:56 UTC, wind from 280 degrees at 12 knots gusting 18, visibility 10 statute miles, few clouds at 1,500 ft and scattered at 20,000 ft, temperature 18 and dewpoint 12 degrees Celsius, altimeter 30.01 inches of mercury. Everything after an RMK group is shown raw because remarks often use automated coding. Always confirm weather against the official briefing source before any flight.