Military Aviation Weather: Codes, Forecasts and Reports
Military aviation weather uses the same products as everybody else, with additions that exist because a service crew is often briefed against one airfield and one mission. This page is the map of those additions and where each one is explained in full.
What is the same
Most of it. A military TAF is an ordinary TAF for four fifths of its length.
The header, the valid period and the body all follow the civil rules. Wind, visibility, weather and cloud use identical codes. The change groups are the same four: FM, TEMPO, BECMG and the PROB groups.
Flight categories are worked out the same way, from the ceiling and the visibility, taking the worse of the two. So a pilot who can read a civil TAF can already read the part that drives a go or no-go decision.
What gets added
Three groups in the trailer at the end, plus remarks about the forecasting service. The leading character of each group tells you which is which.
| Code | What it means |
|---|---|
5-group |
turbulence: intensity, base and thickness, e.g. 520005 |
6-group |
icing: type and intensity, base and thickness, e.g. 620105 |
QNH____INS |
altimeter setting in inches of mercury, e.g. QNH2992INS |
AMD NOT SKED |
amendments are not scheduled: nobody will update this forecast |
LIMITED METWATCH |
reduced forecaster coverage between the hours given |
Where each part is explained
One page per piece, so you can go straight to the group in front of you.
Military TAF vs civilian TAF covers the whole shape of the difference.
The numeric groups have a page each: turbulence codes and icing codes, with the full AFMAN 15-124 tables on military TAF codes.
Military TAF remarks is the one to read first at an unfamiliar field, because it tells you whether anybody is still watching the forecast. Volcanic ash and military PIREPs cover the rest.
Colour states
A single word summing up the airfield, used in briefings and in some reports. It is shorthand rather than a replacement for the numbers.
| Code | What it means |
|---|---|
BLU |
blue: 2500 ft and 8 km or better |
WHT |
white: 1500 ft and 5 km |
GRN |
green: 700 ft and 3.7 km |
YLO |
yellow: 300 ft and 1.6 km |
AMB |
amber: 200 ft and 800 m |
RED |
red: below 200 ft or below 800 m |
BLACK |
airfield unusable for reasons other than cloud and visibility |
Reading one in practice
Two passes, and the first is the one you already know.
Read the header and the body, and work out the category at your arrival time. Stop there and you have most of what you need.
Then take the trailer. Find the groups starting with 5 and 6 and cut each after the first digit, the second, and the fifth. That gives a hazard, a base and a thickness.
Then read the remarks, because they tell you how much the rest is worth. The TAF decoder does all of this for you if you would rather paste it in.
Frequently asked questions
How does a military TAF differ from a civilian TAF?
The body is identical. A military TAF adds a turbulence group starting with 5, an icing group starting with 6, an altimeter group written as QNH followed by INS, and remarks about the forecasting service.
What does AMD NOT SKED mean?
Amendments are not scheduled at that airfield, so nobody is rostered to update the forecast if conditions change. It reads like a note about an amendment and means the opposite.
Do civilian pilots need to read military weather?
Anyone using a joint-use or military field will meet these forecasts, and they appear in flight planning tools alongside civil ones. The body reads normally, so the only new work is the trailer.
What is a colour state?
A one-word summary of the airfield based on ceiling and visibility, running from blue and white at the good end through green, yellow and amber to red and black. It is briefing shorthand, not a replacement for the numbers.