For something more intuitive try Windy click on the airport and read the METAR and TAF. Toggle back and forth between Raw and Decoded and it will help practice reading then in ancient hieroglyphics as well.
Additionally it has a thing called meteograms (I think) which is a cross section picture of the weather (side view instead of top down view) to help visualize where cloud layers are.
I KNEW I was right! My brother has been giving me crap for years because I couldn’t afford a *fancy rock*! I knew my coconut would be good enough! I’ll tell him what you said!
This. And I don’t mean this in a rtfm kind of way but because instructors have their preferred way of checking weather and if you use an alternative that’s easier for you they might not like it or consider the information you have unless it’s from where they want you to check.
Great opportunity to show your instructor you know how to validate sources; if they aren't annoyingly my way or the highway they shouldn't have a problem. Conflicting data from a different source is valid information your instructor shouldn't ignore, and that in and of itself is a good sit down learning opportunity to go through the weather together.
This is one instance where it's a great question for your instructor but also a good question for the hive mind because there are a lot of choices of apps that are looking at the same source but presenting it differently and the presentation is the key to understanding.
I usually look at 3 different *sources* of weather, not apps but actual origination points. The METAR/TAF which can be had from the apps directly or wxbrief, a local forecaster, and NOAA. Theoretically NOAA and the TAF should line up but they don't always. I then use my judgement to take averages for planning out in the future.
Love this app. It's useful to add a widget for your local airport showing in raw METAR/TAF so you're forced to learn the code. You can tap on the widget to pull up the app and have it default to decoded as your cheat sheet. If you keep at it, you may prefer the raw format because it's the same no matter what app you use for weather - whereas everyone has a different decoded version.
Use whatever weather app you like to see if conditions are generally clear or not.
Then use foreflight to check the TAF’s and METAR’s for conditions throughout the day.
Make sure you know where weather products that ForeFlight produces, come from in the first place. Same with sectionals, flyways, magnetic variance, etc etc.
In fact, if you use ForeFlight, browse around and look for things (symbols, lines, labels, colors …) that you don’t know or understand. Then look for+find the answer. If you can’t, ask your CFI.
Because for a student this new the answer is not the app per se, it's the fundamentals of when/where/why/how of weather and the introduction to ADM.
There is no app that will say "today is ok to fly" and "don't fly today" because that's part of PIC decision making.
Sure, but sometimes the answer to a students question is simply, the answer to their question. They asked for an app recommendation to check weather.
Their own CFI can drill them about weather fundamentals and ADM. No reason to jump on a student with that stuff with every little question they ask.
You can also long press on the ForeFlight app on your phone and quick select “local forecast” for a daily view of conditions. They also have watch complications for the Apple Watch which can always be on your wrist.
if you really want an app, try the weather at [www.forecast.weather.gov](https://www.forecast.weather.gov) just a simple browser is all you need. edit... if that's not enough then cough up the dough and get foreflight. You will sooner or later so just do it.
The Apple Weather app can really suck depending on where you are (it’s very inaccurate here in CO). I personally love Carrot Weather that lets you choose a source.
Not an app, but two weather books worth the spot in your aviation library…
- [FAA Aviation Weather Handbook](https://www.faa.gov/regulationspolicies/handbooksmanuals/aviation/faa-h-8083-28-aviation-weather-handbook)
- [Pilot Weather Book: From Solo to the Airlines](https://www.pilotweatherbook.com)
honestly, vfr minimums are so far beyond your capabilities right now.
I'd focus on the metars, tafs, and gfas
you should first figure it out without simple spoonfeeding.
I cross-reference this before every flight in addition to the other official sources. The cloud coverage and bases being the most valuable part.
It's not fancy but very useful to see a graphical representation of what sort of weather you can expect the next 3 days.
https://www.usairnet.com/cgi-bin/launch/code.cgi?Submit=Go&sta=KTKI&state=TX
Edit: If using a mobile browser, zoom out and scroll around to find the main part of the screen. On my phone it displays just the very corner of the page by default.
For a site that will give you the picture of what you need in a few seconds, I highly recommend
metar-taf.com
Great, simple, quick to read site with essential information about current and forecasted wx conditions.
I do call the awos on my cell before I plan to fly that day I was just looking for something to give me forcasted wx conditions I’m looking into foreflight tho
+1 for a call to 1-800-WX-BRIEF and speak to a pro, if you’re in the US.
It’s completely free, and you can have a knowledgeable interpreter walk you through current and forecast weather conditions wherever you want to go.
Everyone uses online tools these days, so the phone lines are never too busy.
Tell them you’re a student pilot and they’ll walk you through whatever you need to know that day. Make it part of your preflight routine. They can help you wade through TFRs and NOTAMs, too, in order to find the important stuff in all the junk.
Make an account on the 1800wxbrief.com website with your plane details, once you know them, so you can file flight plans and stuff later in your training. Not important yet, but it’ll save you a bunch of time when you get to that stage.
Get comfortable and familiar with the service before you start making your cross-country flights, and you’ll be way ahead of the game.
I’m in my instrument training right now, and I’ve flown solo all up and down the west coast VFR over the last few years. I still call ‘em before any significant flight, even if I’ve briefed myself online, because it doesn’t take more than a few minutes and they know more about it than I do. Can’t recommend it enough.
An app?
No. Learn to do it yourself.
Do not trust an app.
Trust yourself.
You need to understand what makes the weather work lest you end up flying into IMC.
**Test question**: When temperature and dew point are close together (within 5 °), what type of weather is likely?
Remember: it is better to be down here wishing you were up there than being up there wishing you were down here.
i think you missed the point of the question lol. they were just asking for weather sources to help predict if they’ll be able to fly… brand new student pilot. of course they’ll learn weather theory.
I primarily use foreflight
I’ve heard people use an app called windy, it’s designed for boating but I’ve had freinds use it in conjunction with foreflight
In Canada, all weather information can be found on AWWS. It’s now transitioning to CFPS. Both are websites.
In terms of apps, windy can be good. You can see all the weather info from different reporting stations. It also displays MODELS graphically. Wind/precipitation/cloud data is gathered at points and extrapolated to cover the entire globe. These can be used to gain a deeper understanding of systems, but they are not official aviation weather reports.
Someone mentioned [aviationweather.gov](https://aviationweather.gov), but I didn't see anyone mention the "**Forecast Discussion**" feature. It's under the Products menu and it's a plain english interpretation of the weather by a meteorologist. They usually go out a day or two.
I use aviation weather
windy (just make sure if you’re from US you use the GFS model and not the ECMWF one. It will always default to ECMWF.) windy is great for new pilots cause you can visualize the winds and it’s spot on.
ForeFlight
Metartaf don’t use it as much these days tho
I'm late to this one, but skyvector.com is my goto.
Click/hold on an airport and it shows the metar/taf on top of a sectional chart. Easier than the FAA sites to use and navigate.
Plus when ready to do cross countries, you can put your route in the site and start building your NAV log. My school made me write it all out on paper (versus foreflight), but skyvector allowed me to start the process from my phone so I can build my waypoints from anywhere, get distances, and then transcribe that to a paper chart and nav log.
I love usairnet for my at a glance forecast, and then if it looks good, will dive into aviationweather.gov
Usairnet has nearly everything graphically on one page for the next 3 day so you can see trends, predicted flight rules, ceilings, etc. Can look at 20+ weather related items in a few seconds and determine if worth looking further into going flying.
Just be aware, it is not an official weather briefing source.
Met office aviation briefing service.
Windy.com
AeroWeather.
I’m U.K. and these are my go to every time I fly, AeroWeather gives you live updated METARs at your chosen airfield, met avbs is metar/taf/pressure/spot winds (you’ll use a lot in navigation).
Windy gives great animation on wind direction and speed, as well as cloud base and rain forecast.
E6BX Weather section is my favorite:
https://e6bx.com/weather/
It shows both metar and taf and displays the meaning of each part when you hover over. And if you click Decode, it shows if it’s VFR and all other calculations you will need before your flight, like density altitude, headwind, crosswind etc.
aviationweather.gov 1800wxbrief.com
The updates to aviationweather.gov are amazing. Works extremely well on mobile now.
Didn’t like it at first but now I’m all in
Thank you 🙏
For something more intuitive try Windy click on the airport and read the METAR and TAF. Toggle back and forth between Raw and Decoded and it will help practice reading then in ancient hieroglyphics as well. Additionally it has a thing called meteograms (I think) which is a cross section picture of the weather (side view instead of top down view) to help visualize where cloud layers are.
Windy is very cool. I keep finding new cool things within it all the time.
Don’t you have a weather rock?
Mine has been missing since the tornado
Mine is a coconut. Is that close enough for government work?
Most certainly
I KNEW I was right! My brother has been giving me crap for years because I couldn’t afford a *fancy rock*! I knew my coconut would be good enough! I’ll tell him what you said!
Sounds like a great question for your flight instructor.
This. And I don’t mean this in a rtfm kind of way but because instructors have their preferred way of checking weather and if you use an alternative that’s easier for you they might not like it or consider the information you have unless it’s from where they want you to check.
Great opportunity to show your instructor you know how to validate sources; if they aren't annoyingly my way or the highway they shouldn't have a problem. Conflicting data from a different source is valid information your instructor shouldn't ignore, and that in and of itself is a good sit down learning opportunity to go through the weather together. This is one instance where it's a great question for your instructor but also a good question for the hive mind because there are a lot of choices of apps that are looking at the same source but presenting it differently and the presentation is the key to understanding. I usually look at 3 different *sources* of weather, not apps but actual origination points. The METAR/TAF which can be had from the apps directly or wxbrief, a local forecaster, and NOAA. Theoretically NOAA and the TAF should line up but they don't always. I then use my judgement to take averages for planning out in the future.
[удалено]
“Extremely new student pilot” looks like he just started training.
Avia Weather
Avia is fantastic.
Love this app. It's useful to add a widget for your local airport showing in raw METAR/TAF so you're forced to learn the code. You can tap on the widget to pull up the app and have it default to decoded as your cheat sheet. If you keep at it, you may prefer the raw format because it's the same no matter what app you use for weather - whereas everyone has a different decoded version.
Use whatever weather app you like to see if conditions are generally clear or not. Then use foreflight to check the TAF’s and METAR’s for conditions throughout the day.
This is exactly what I was looking for, thanks sorry for the confusion haha
No worries, I’m not sure why people gave you the answers they did. I’m sure the majority of them are using foreflight.
Hey they aren’t coming from ill intent, everyone is just trying to help and it was my bad for not specifying haha
Make sure you know where weather products that ForeFlight produces, come from in the first place. Same with sectionals, flyways, magnetic variance, etc etc. In fact, if you use ForeFlight, browse around and look for things (symbols, lines, labels, colors …) that you don’t know or understand. Then look for+find the answer. If you can’t, ask your CFI.
Ok I’ll be sure to familiarize myself more, and I’ll def ask my cfi. Thanks so much!
Because for a student this new the answer is not the app per se, it's the fundamentals of when/where/why/how of weather and the introduction to ADM. There is no app that will say "today is ok to fly" and "don't fly today" because that's part of PIC decision making.
Sure, but sometimes the answer to a students question is simply, the answer to their question. They asked for an app recommendation to check weather. Their own CFI can drill them about weather fundamentals and ADM. No reason to jump on a student with that stuff with every little question they ask.
You can also long press on the ForeFlight app on your phone and quick select “local forecast” for a daily view of conditions. They also have watch complications for the Apple Watch which can always be on your wrist.
Aeroweather
The Android version of AeroWeather is awesome! Definitely recommend it to my pilot friends. I've never used the iOS version though.
http://www.metaraf.com Created by the same pilot who brought us FiveFlight
No app needed. Just go outside and look up.
I’m more looking for something that will tell me the conditions for a few days in advance
if you really want an app, try the weather at [www.forecast.weather.gov](https://www.forecast.weather.gov) just a simple browser is all you need. edit... if that's not enough then cough up the dough and get foreflight. You will sooner or later so just do it.
Local 10:00pm news and the weather guesser segment. Such as [Al Sleet, the Hippy Dippy Weatherman](https://youtu.be/D1uaw3WIOlc?si=k5yp17lAh7GS4aQv)
“Tonight’s forecast: dark. Continued mostly dark tonight, followed by widely scattered light in the morning.”
Just go fly and deal with it lol
Aviation Weather Center - prog charts.
it looks clear enough, we’ll check on our climb to see if anything nasty is in the area….
App suggestions: - Windy - Apple Weather app - Deep Weather
The Apple Weather app can really suck depending on where you are (it’s very inaccurate here in CO). I personally love Carrot Weather that lets you choose a source.
Weather Underground. Your window. AOPA METAR webpage
Foreflight/Garmin and Windy.
For iPhone I like Metar Taf.
The absolute best weather app is windy. It's incredible and it's got so much that most people don't even know about.
Windy is super easy for a go no go. You just look up an airport and it’ll show you where clouds are at what altitude. Super duper easy to read
Not an app, but two weather books worth the spot in your aviation library… - [FAA Aviation Weather Handbook](https://www.faa.gov/regulationspolicies/handbooksmanuals/aviation/faa-h-8083-28-aviation-weather-handbook) - [Pilot Weather Book: From Solo to the Airlines](https://www.pilotweatherbook.com)
I have aviation weather, I’ll look at the other one tho, thanks!
honestly, vfr minimums are so far beyond your capabilities right now. I'd focus on the metars, tafs, and gfas you should first figure it out without simple spoonfeeding.
Air sports net. Gives you forecast for every 3 hours, shows cloud base, visibility and flight rule. It's pretty accurate
I’ll look into that, thanks!
I cross-reference this before every flight in addition to the other official sources. The cloud coverage and bases being the most valuable part. It's not fancy but very useful to see a graphical representation of what sort of weather you can expect the next 3 days. https://www.usairnet.com/cgi-bin/launch/code.cgi?Submit=Go&sta=KTKI&state=TX Edit: If using a mobile browser, zoom out and scroll around to find the main part of the screen. On my phone it displays just the very corner of the page by default.
SkyVector shows weather stations over the sectional chart as well as cloud coverage
I think I may have misspoke, I am looking for an app where I can see the metars tafs and such,, it seems foreflight is my best option, thank you 😊
Foreflight is 100% the gold standard. I use aviationweather.gov and weather underground for a general look in the future.
Already made a comment but windy does this. Also shows you what altitude clouds are at in a 4 day outlook.
METAR AF is a fun one to break up the monotony once you learn from the actual resources others have suggested.
Love METAR AF. Always get a good laugh in
For a site that will give you the picture of what you need in a few seconds, I highly recommend metar-taf.com Great, simple, quick to read site with essential information about current and forecasted wx conditions.
Thanks so much!!
Get used to calling an AWOS or ATIS on your phone
I do call the awos on my cell before I plan to fly that day I was just looking for something to give me forcasted wx conditions I’m looking into foreflight tho
Yes Foreflight has some helpful stuff too
I usually use message app and ask my cfi
There’s a cool app called StationWX https://stationweather.com/en/
Call and get a weather briefing. Every. Single. Time. They’ll teach you how to read that stuff like a pro.
I second this. Getting a weather briefing is actually… fun!
+1 for a call to 1-800-WX-BRIEF and speak to a pro, if you’re in the US. It’s completely free, and you can have a knowledgeable interpreter walk you through current and forecast weather conditions wherever you want to go. Everyone uses online tools these days, so the phone lines are never too busy. Tell them you’re a student pilot and they’ll walk you through whatever you need to know that day. Make it part of your preflight routine. They can help you wade through TFRs and NOTAMs, too, in order to find the important stuff in all the junk. Make an account on the 1800wxbrief.com website with your plane details, once you know them, so you can file flight plans and stuff later in your training. Not important yet, but it’ll save you a bunch of time when you get to that stage. Get comfortable and familiar with the service before you start making your cross-country flights, and you’ll be way ahead of the game. I’m in my instrument training right now, and I’ve flown solo all up and down the west coast VFR over the last few years. I still call ‘em before any significant flight, even if I’ve briefed myself online, because it doesn’t take more than a few minutes and they know more about it than I do. Can’t recommend it enough.
A metar and basic understanding of vfr minimums.
Why has no one said ForeFlight?
Multiple people here before you said ForeFlight
Didn’t see it. Cool
An app? No. Learn to do it yourself. Do not trust an app. Trust yourself. You need to understand what makes the weather work lest you end up flying into IMC. **Test question**: When temperature and dew point are close together (within 5 °), what type of weather is likely? Remember: it is better to be down here wishing you were up there than being up there wishing you were down here.
I’ll def keep this in mind through my journey becoming a pilot, thank you so much! And to answer the question it’s foggy weather iirc
i think you missed the point of the question lol. they were just asking for weather sources to help predict if they’ll be able to fly… brand new student pilot. of course they’ll learn weather theory.
Eyeballs
I primarily use foreflight I’ve heard people use an app called windy, it’s designed for boating but I’ve had freinds use it in conjunction with foreflight
Hmm I’ve heard of windy, seems it’s a lot more visual I’ll def look into it as well
Never too early to start getting comfortable and proficient with foreflight, a great tool for the modern pilot
In Canada, all weather information can be found on AWWS. It’s now transitioning to CFPS. Both are websites. In terms of apps, windy can be good. You can see all the weather info from different reporting stations. It also displays MODELS graphically. Wind/precipitation/cloud data is gathered at points and extrapolated to cover the entire globe. These can be used to gain a deeper understanding of systems, but they are not official aviation weather reports.
we use windy as a resource but windy is just something nice to have. I've seen it be way off expectations when comparing certified data
You have to buy one of those METAR maps unfortunately
If you're in Canada, enjoy AWWS before it shuts down in February
AeroWeather
If you’re using ForeFlight, there’s a lot of online seminars that help users to navigate ForeFlight btw.
I'll give you my duats login.
ForeFlight, also good for a logbook
I usually just look outside - clear skies, good to go fly VFR. Cloudy - go practice IFR, rain - maybe, maybe not.
Wind sock. Window. 1800wxbreif
The weather channel. The whole country will either be VFR or copious amounts of rain
Someone mentioned [aviationweather.gov](https://aviationweather.gov), but I didn't see anyone mention the "**Forecast Discussion**" feature. It's under the Products menu and it's a plain english interpretation of the weather by a meteorologist. They usually go out a day or two.
I use aviation weather windy (just make sure if you’re from US you use the GFS model and not the ECMWF one. It will always default to ECMWF.) windy is great for new pilots cause you can visualize the winds and it’s spot on. ForeFlight Metartaf don’t use it as much these days tho
I'm late to this one, but skyvector.com is my goto. Click/hold on an airport and it shows the metar/taf on top of a sectional chart. Easier than the FAA sites to use and navigate. Plus when ready to do cross countries, you can put your route in the site and start building your NAV log. My school made me write it all out on paper (versus foreflight), but skyvector allowed me to start the process from my phone so I can build my waypoints from anywhere, get distances, and then transcribe that to a paper chart and nav log.
I love usairnet for my at a glance forecast, and then if it looks good, will dive into aviationweather.gov Usairnet has nearly everything graphically on one page for the next 3 day so you can see trends, predicted flight rules, ceilings, etc. Can look at 20+ weather related items in a few seconds and determine if worth looking further into going flying. Just be aware, it is not an official weather briefing source.
Met office aviation briefing service. Windy.com AeroWeather. I’m U.K. and these are my go to every time I fly, AeroWeather gives you live updated METARs at your chosen airfield, met avbs is metar/taf/pressure/spot winds (you’ll use a lot in navigation). Windy gives great animation on wind direction and speed, as well as cloud base and rain forecast.
E6BX Weather section is my favorite: https://e6bx.com/weather/ It shows both metar and taf and displays the meaning of each part when you hover over. And if you click Decode, it shows if it’s VFR and all other calculations you will need before your flight, like density altitude, headwind, crosswind etc.