There is a huge amount of weather products available to pilot’s to help get a picture of what is happening with the weather. Some provide you with a small glimpse of the weather at a single location, others give you a large picture over the entire nation. Below are some common weather products you will come across as a pilot.

METAR The most easiest and most basic of all the weather products. Quite possibly the most commonly used one.

TAF A text forecast weather product based off of the METAR format.

PIREP Another text based weather product displaying pilot reports.

Winds Aloft Need to find the wind direction and velocity for your desired cruising altitude? Winds Aloft is your answer.

Area Forecast Providing you with a general weather picture over a broad area. Valid for 18 hours.

Charts There area variety of weather charts at your disposal to give you a picture of what the weather is like in your region and across the United States.

For more information on understanding the broad impacts of weather, check out our page on Weather Theory