What Does OVC Mean in a METAR?
OVC means overcast: 8 oktas, full sky cover; an overcast layer is a ceiling. It stands for OVerCast.
OVC in a real report
OVC025
What it changes for you
Overcast is total coverage, so there are no gaps to climb through or descend between. That is the practical difference from broken, which looks similar on paper and is not.
OVC008 is an 800 foot ceiling, which is IFR. The number after the coverage is
hundreds of feet above ground level, not above sea level.
The tops question
A METAR reports the base and says nothing about the top. If you need to know whether you can get on top, look for a PIREP: it is the only routine product where somebody measured it.
Related codes
Decode a report containing this code
Paste a METAR, TAF, PIREP or SIGMET into the WxDecoder decoder. Every group comes back in plain English. The raw code sits beside it, so you can check the decode rather than trust it.
Frequently asked questions
What does OVC mean in a METAR?
Overcast, covering all eight eighths of the sky. An overcast layer is always a ceiling, so OVC008 gives an 800 foot ceiling. It is the only cloud coverage with no gaps at all.
What is the difference between OVC and VV?
OVC is a cloud layer with a measurable base you can fly under. VV is a vertical visibility into an obscuration such as fog or heavy snow, where there is no distinct base and the sky is hidden rather than covered.